‘MORIBUND’

Iowa Supreme Court Deadlock Prevents Six-Week Abortion Ban

The justices were split 3-3 on the decision, upholding a lower court’s 2019 ruling that blocked Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ strict “fetal heartbeat” law from taking effect.

The Iowa Supreme Court’s failure to reach a majority ruling on the state’s six-week abortion ban on Friday will allow the procedure to remain legal. Its six justices were split 3-3 on the decision, upholding a lower court’s 2019 ruling that blocked Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ “fetal heartbeat” law from taking effect. Reynolds was slammed with a lawsuit from Planned Parenthood over the strict and unconstitutional measure when she signed the law in 2018—before the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. It wasn’t until the reversal of Roe that the governor tried to appeal to the state’s Supreme Court, where she has appointed five of its seven members. With the court not ruling in Reynolds’ favor, abortion in Iowa stays legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. Justice Thomas Waterman wrote on behalf of the justices who denied the request to reinstate the law, calling it “moribund when it was enacted.”