Posted on 10/02/2017 5:30:57 PM PDT by Morgana
The abortion chain Planned Parenthood lost a legal challenge to Iowa’s 72-hour waiting period law Monday when a judge upheld the law.
The Des Moines Register reports Iowa Judge Jeffrey Farrell refused to block the law. He rejected the abortion business’s argument that the law places an “undue burden” on women’s access to abortion.
“The Iowa Act is arguably the strictest mandatory waiting period law in the country, but the only question to the court is whether it complies with the constitutional standard,” Farrell wrote. “It does.”
The Iowa law requires that a woman be offered the chance to see an ultrasound of her unborn baby and receive information about her baby’s development, abortion risks and alternatives before having an abortion. It also requires that women wait 72 hours prior to going through with the abortion.
Jenifer Bowen of Iowa Right to Life said she was pleased to see Farrell’s ruling. However, she said she is not confident in the Iowa Supreme Court, which would hear the appeal.
“We don’t have a Supreme Court in Iowa that has tended to rule toward life in recent decisions,” she said. “I want to give them the benefit of the doubt that they will hear the case out.”
Planned Parenthood and the ACLU challenged the law earlier this year. Attorneys for the pro-abortion groups argue that the law puts an undue burden on women by requiring that they wait three days before having the abortion.
On Monday, the abortion groups quickly filed an appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court, according to the local news.
Here’s more from the report:
In the new case, Farrell wrote that … Iowa’s waiting-period law does not aim to protect women’s health. Instead, its aim is to give women a chance to think over their decision before proceeding with an abortion, he wrote.
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“The undue burden standard has been criticized, but it fairly balances the two competing interests of a woman’s right to choose an abortion versus the public’s interest in potential life,” he wrote. “The evidence at trial focused on the hardships women face when dealing with an unwanted pregnancy, but the public’s interest in potential life is an interest that cannot be denied under the law. Both of these interests are important.”
The 72-hour waiting period is not in effect right now because of the lawsuit.
These laws help protect unborn babies from abortion, and the abortion industry knows it. Studies have found that when women see ultrasound images of their unborn babies, they are more likely to choose life.
The law also will protect late-term unborn babies from painful, violent abortions. The United States is one of only seven nations to allow abortion on-demand more than halfway through pregnancy. Polling done on Election Day 2016 found that a large majority of voters nationwide – women in higher numbers than men – support the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which protects unborn babies from abortion after 20 weeks.
“Our state was previously one of the most permissive on abortion, allowing abortion on-demand well beyond five months, more than halfway through pregnancy,” said Jenifer Bowen, a spokeswoman for Iowa Right to Life, when the bill passed in May. “After a years-long battle to gain a pro-life Senate, Iowa finally succeeded in passing life-saving legislation that bans painful late-term abortions.”
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