Iowa ends almost all abortions today
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One of the strictest abortion bans in the nation will take effect in Iowa this morning.
Why it matters: Most abortions will be prohibited after about six weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the patient.
- Until now, abortion in Iowa has been available until up to about 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Driving the news: Iowa will join states including Florida, South Carolina and Georgia in banning abortion when cardiac activity is detected in an embryo.
- With Iowa, 18 states in total will have laws banning nearly all abortions after six weeks gestation.
By the numbers: Iowa abortions will drop by an estimated 97%, Planned Parenthood projects.
- There were almost 4,000 last year, according to the Society of Family Planning, a research group that supports abortion rights.
Zoom in: The earliest most women know they're pregnant is at four weeks, giving little time to consider options and schedule appointments, Sonia Suter, a law professor at George Washington University Law School, tells Axios.
- "That's why these are effectively like abortion bans," Suter says.
Catch up quick: Last month, the Iowa Supreme Court reversed a temporary injunction blocking the most recently passed law. And, last week, it denied Planned Parenthood of the Heartland's petition for rehearing its case.
- A district court judge last week ruled that the current injunction blocking the law will lift at 8am.
State of play: Planned Parenthood has increased abortion capabilities in surrounding states, including Nebraska and Minnesota, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports.
- The Chicago Abortion Fund already received more than 60 requests from Iowa residents in the first three weeks of July, a 165% increase from previous months, the Washington Post reports.
What they're saying: Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a statement calling the latest decision "a victory for life," saying she remains committed to supporting women in planning for motherhood.
The other side: "Women will die" because of the new law, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart, told the Dispatch.
- "We know that Iowans will now face unjust and, for some, impossible obstacles in getting abortion care," Rita Bettis Austen, legal director for the ACLU of Iowa, said in a news conference last month.
Read more: How Iowa's 2018 ban failed