Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) on Friday signed Iowa’s new abortion ban into law, effectively banning most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.
The ban will take effect immediately, further eliminating access to abortion across the Midwest, where it is already very limited.
“I have never been prouder to sign a bill into law,” Reynolds said while signing the bill at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa.
The GOP-led state legislature passed the ban earlier this week after a day-long special session, and the law is already facing a legal challenge.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, the Emma Goldman Clinic and the ACLU of Iowa filed the lawsuit in district court less than 12 hours after the bill was passed on Tuesday.
The state passed a nearly identical version of the law in 2018, but a court halted it because Roe v. Wade is still going. Last month, the state Supreme Court deadlocked 3-3 on whether to allow the law to take effect.
Abortion is banned in almost all cases in the neighboring states of Missouri, South Dakota and Wisconsin, although Wisconsin’s law is being challenged.
Iowa law prohibits abortion after an ultrasound detects fetal cardiac activity, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy. It contains limited exceptions for the life and health of the woman as well as exceptions for some survivors of rape and incest, provided the cases are reported to law enforcement authorities. It also has exceptions for the child’s abnormalities that are “incompatible with life.”
Reynolds signed the bill at the Family Leadership Summit, where former Fox News host Tucker Carlson interviewed several 2024 GOP candidates including Sen. Tim Scott (SC), Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
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