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A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 25 May 2022

Continued from Front 5-2 that an abortion is a requiring a 24-hour wait-
"There are states where this fundamental right protect- ing period. Both measures
is to some extent unknown ed by the state constitu- were struck down in state
and an issue that state tion's guarantee of liberty. district court. Reynolds ap-
courts will likely have to "Autonomy and dominion pealed the waiting-period
confront," said Helene Kras- over one's body go to the decision to the Iowa Su-
noff, vice president of pub- very heart of what it means preme Court last year.
lic policy, litigation and law to be free," wrote then- In the years since Cady's
for abortion rights advo- Chief Justice Mark Cady, opinion, Reynolds has ap-
cates Planned Parenthood who died in 2019. "Implicit pointed four of the court's
Federation of America. "But in the concept of ordered seven members. The Re-
this is an issue that's pres- liberty is the ability to de- publican-controlled Legis-
ent in Iowa in this very mo- cide whether to continue lature also gave her more
ment." The Iowa Supreme or terminate a pregnancy." control over the process
Court decision that's under Since that decision, Brans- of selecting the panel that
consideration struck down tad's successor, Republi- recommends potential August Mulvihill, of Norwalk, Iowa, center, holds a sign depict-
ing a wire clothes hanger during a rally at the Statehouse May
a 2017 law signed by then- can Gov. Kim Reynolds, has nominees. 21, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa, to protest recent abortion bans.
Gov. Terry Branstad requir- signed other restrictions, in- Drake University Law School Associated Press
ing a woman to wait 72 cluding outlawing abortion professor Sally Frank said if
hours before receiving an once cardiac activity is de- the court were to overturn years ago, it "would give an Reynolds has said she is
abortion. The court ruled tected in the embryo and a right established only four even more political look to "proud of the legislation she
a decision here than the signed in 2018," including
U.S. Supreme Court." the ban on abortions once
Yet abortion opponents ar- cardiac activity is detect-
gued that court rulings in a ed, as early as six weeks
half-dozen states, includ- and before many women
ing Iowa, are examples of know they are pregnant.
laws inappropriately estab- While the measure includ-
lished by judges rather than ed exceptions to protect
elected officials. the life of the mother and
"This case presents the op- for pregnancies that are
portunity for the Iowa Su- the result of incest or rape,
preme Court to return the Reynolds recently declined
issue back to the people to to endorse any exceptions.
decide through their elect- "I'm not going to set any
ed representatives in the parameters," she told re-
Legislature," said Mallory porters last week. "We have
Carroll, a spokeswoman for a ruling before the Iowa
the anti-abortion Susan B. Supreme Court and we're
Anthony List. going to wait and see what
Polls indicate support for they do, and that actually
keeping abortion legal. The will affect what our next
Des Moines Register Iowa steps are moving forward."
Poll found in September Supreme courts in Alaska,
that 57% supported keep- Florida, Kansas, Montana
ing abortion legal in most and Minnesota have ruled
or all cases, compared with that their constitutions pro-
38% who said it should be tect the right to abortion.
illegal in most or all cases. Among them, Republicans
According to AP VoteCast, hold legislative majorities
a 2020 survey of the elec- and the governorships in
torate, 65% of Iowa voters Florida and Montana.
said the U.S. Supreme Court In Montana, a challenge
should leave Roe v. Wade to abortion restrictions is
as it is, while a third said it before the state supreme
should be overturned. courts.q