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For Immediate Release
July, 18 2023, 09:23am EDT
Contact:
212-261-4433 or,media.office@ppfa.org,.
Iowa Court Temporarily Blocks Six-Week Abortion Ban
Des Moines
Today, an Iowa state district court granted abortion providers’ request to temporarily block a newly-enacted ban on abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. For now, abortion in Iowa remains safe and legal. The new law briefly took effect on Friday, July 14, after being signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds.
The ban, HF 732, is virtually identical to a 2018 law kept blocked by the Iowa Supreme Court in June. In the order granting a temporary injunction, the district court confirmed that under Iowa Supreme Court precedent, abortion restrictions that unduly burden the right to abortion are unconstitutional, writing that the court “does not get to declare that our Supreme Court got it wrong and then impose a different standard. Such would be an alarming exercise of judicial activism. This court is bound to decide this matter pursuant to the instruction of our Supreme Court.”
The lawsuit — brought by the Emma Goldman Clinic, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, and Dr. Sarah Traxler — asserts that by banning the vast majority of abortions, this law violates Iowans’ constitutional rights to abortion and substantive due process. The ban also violates the Iowa Constitution’s Inalienable Rights Clause, which explicitly guarantees those rights to women and guarantees equal protection under state law.
HF 732 bans abortion before many people know they are pregnant. While the ban contains some so-called exceptions, the reality is that if it goes into effect, the vast majority of Iowans will be unable to access abortion. In addition to narrow exceptions for the life of a pregnant person and certain medical emergencies, the bill also purports to provide exceptions to the ban for certain survivors of rape and incest, those experiencing miscarriage, and those with particular fetal diagnoses. However, each exception includes significant barriers to accessing care. The experiences of patients and providers across the country have demonstrated that so-called exceptions like those in Iowa’s abortion ban are unworkable, put patients’ lives at risk, and further deprive people of their reproductive freedom.
“We are deeply relieved that the court granted this relief so essential health care in Iowa can continue. We are also acutely aware that the relief is only pending further litigation and the future of abortion in Iowa remains tenuous and threatened,” said Dr. Abbey Hardy-Fairbanks, medical director of the Emma Goldman Clinic.
“Today’s ruling means patients across Iowa will be able to access abortion care and retain control over their bodies and futures. We are proud to continue providing the care our patients need and deserve,” said Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States. “The fight to preserve Iowans’ fundamental right to reproductive freedom is far from over. We will continue to oppose this egregious, unconstitutional ban as it works its way through the courts."
“We are relieved that Iowans will be protected in their ability to seek abortion care for the time being under the order issued today,” said Rita Bettis Austen, legal director for the ACLU of Iowa. “This order is essential to protecting the bodily autonomy rights and freedom of Iowans, as well as their health and safety, while this unconstitutional and dangerous abortion ban is litigated. We know Iowans stand with us in wanting to protect abortion rights and keep politicians out of doctor-patient decisionmaking. We are also grateful to the court for hearing and deciding this case so quickly, as necessitated by the state’s unnecessarily cruel emergency effective date provision.”
“Today’s ruling brings relief to abortion patients who can continue receiving care in Iowa,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO, Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “But this fight is not over. We know that some Iowa politicians are hellbent on banning abortion in defiance of the state constitution, and will keep trying to deny Iowans’ access to essential health care. While these attacks continue, Planned Parenthood and our partners will not back down.”
Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) is many things to many people. We are a trusted health care provider, an informed educator, a passionate advocate, and a global partner helping similar organizations around the world. Planned Parenthood delivers vital health care services, sex education, and sexual health information to millions of women, men, and young people.
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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday sharply criticized U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's threat to impose a 25% tariff on all imported goods from Canada and Mexico, calling the proposal a potentially disastrous distraction from meaningful solutions to drug trafficking and mass migration.
"Migration and drug consumption in the United States cannot be addressed through threats or tariffs," Sheinbaum, a member of Mexico's leftist Morena party, wrote in a letter to Trump. "What is needed is cooperation and mutual understanding to tackle these significant challenges."
Sheinbaum warned that if Trump follows through with his threat, "there will be a response in kind, until we put at risk our shared enterprises," echoing economists' concerns that such sweeping tariffs could result in higher prices for consumers, job losses, and a damaging trade war. Companies in the U.S. are already signaling that they would use tariffs on imports as a justification to raise consumer prices.
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"Tragically, it is in our country that lives are lost to the violence resulting from meeting the drug demand in yours."
Sheinbaum's letter to Trump was made public hours after the U.S. president-elect took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to fearmonger about a supposedly "unstoppable" migrant "caravan coming from Mexico."
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In her response, Sheinbaum wrote that Trump "may not be aware" that Mexico "has developed a comprehensive policy to assist migrants from different parts of the world who cross our territory en route to the southern border of the United States." Sheinbaum noted that the policy helped produce a major decline in migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border over the past year.
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"If even a small percentage of what the United States allocates to war were instead dedicated to building peace and fostering development, it would address the underlying causes of human mobility," she added.
Sheinbaum went on to write that Mexico has "consistently expressed its willingness" to help stop fentanyl and weapons from entering the United States through its southern border.
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered a far more vague response to Trump's tariff threat, telling reporters that he had a "good conversation" with the U.S. president-elect following his Truth Social post.
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Amnesty International on Tuesday joined people around the world in pressuring the Pakistani government to revoke the "shoot-on-site" orders given to troops responding to tens of thousands of protesters in Islamabad who are demanding the release of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
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D-Chowk, a popular square in the capital near multiple government buildings, was "the final destination of PTI's main convoy," according toDawn. As midnight neared in Pakistan Tuesday night, the newspaper reported that "rangers have regained control of Islamabad's D-Chowk after beginning arrests and pushing back PTI protesters from the venue of the party's much-touted power show."
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