Two pro-abortion groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday over Iowa’s new law banning abortion after six weeks, alleging the law is cruel and reckless.
Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed their lawsuit against Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Board of Medicine in an attempt to strike down Iowa’s newly passed law banning all abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. A heartbeat typically manifests at about six weeks into a pregnancy. The new legislation also bans the sale of all fetal tissue in the state.
“We’ve moved quickly to challenge this cruel and reckless law because it cannot be allowed to take effect,” ACLU Iowa legal director Rita Bettis said, according to The Associated Press.
Iowa’s attorney general Tom Miller indicated that he would not defend the law because it “would undermine rights and protections for women,” The AP reported.
The lawsuit follows reports of increased pro-life protests and advocacy outside of abortion clinics across the country, The AP noted.
South Carolina nearly passed a law banning all abortions except those performed in the case of rape, incest and to save the mother’s life, but the bill died in the state’s Senate. (RELATED: Pro-Life Activists Emboldened With New ‘Intensity’ As The Nation Embraces Life, Report Shows)
Iowa’s law will take effect July 1 pending Planned Parenthood and the ACLU’s lawsuit. No other state limits abortion access as strictly. (RELATED: Iowans Applaud Newly Passed Abortion Law)
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