After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Hostile

Iowa

Abortion in Iowa is heavily restricted. As of July 2024, the state is enforcing a 6-week ban.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, 22-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, 6-week LMP

Bans Enjoined

  • Medication Abortion, Telemedicine Ban
  • Method Ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • Biased Counseling Requirement
  • Mandatory Ultrasound Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Notification Requirement
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement
  • Waiting Period Requirement

State Protections

Although from 2018 and 2022, Iowa law included the highest level of constitutional protection for abortion.1 Iowa law does not provide legal protections for abortion.2

Restrictions

Iowa law prohibits abortions once cardiac activity is detected (i.e., approximately six weeks gestation) except in the case of a medical emergency or other applicable exception.3 Iowa law also prohibits abortion at twenty weeks post-fertilization and in the third trimester.4 Violations of Iowa’s abortion restrictions may result in civil or criminal penalties, including felony prosecution.5

Iowa law prohibits D&X procedures and the use of telemedicine for the provision of abortion care, but these prohibitions are permanently enjoined.6 Pregnant people who seek abortion care must undergo mandatory ultrasound and biased counseling at least twenty-four hours before the procedure.7 Under Iowa law, a licensed physician must notify a parent at least 48 hours before performing an abortion on a minor, though a judge can approve a minor’s petition without parental notification.8 Iowa limits public funding for abortion.9

Iowa’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws require that abortion care be provided only by licensed physicians and also include mandatory reporting requirements.10 Providers who violate Iowa’s abortion restrictions may face civil and criminal penalties. 11

Historical Restrictions

Iowa repealed its pre-Roe ban in 1976.12

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, abortion in Iowa is heavily restricted and largely banned after about six weeks of pregnancy (i.e., once cardiac activity is detected).

  1. Between 2018 and 2022, Iowa law included the highest level of constitutional protection for abortion. In 2018, the Iowa Supreme Court held that the due process and equal protection clauses of the Iowa Constitution protect the fundamental right to abortion, and that restrictions on that right are subject to strict scrutiny. See Planned Parenthood of the Heartland v. Reynolds ex rel. State, 915 N.W.2d 206, 236-37 (Iowa 2018). However, in 2022, the Court overruled itself, stating “We hold today is that the Iowa Constitution is not the source of a fundamental right to an abortion necessitating a strict scrutiny standard of review for regulations affecting that right.” See Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc. v. Reynolds, 975 N.W.2d 710 (Iowa June 17, 2022). ↩︎
  2. See Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc. v. Reynolds ex rel. State, 975 N.W.2d 710, 716 (Iowa 2022) (“[T]he Iowa Constitution is not the source of a fundamental right to an abortion necessitating a strict scrutiny standard of review for regulations affecting that right.”); Planned Parenthood of Heartland, Inc. v. Reynolds ex rel. State, 9 N.W.3d 37, 44 (Iowa 2024), reh’g denied (July 22, 2024), amended (Sept. 6, 2024) (concluding “that the [cardiac activity] statute is rationally related to the state’s legitimate interest in protecting unborn life” and reversing “the district court order entering [a] temporary injunction blocking enforcement of the []statute”). ↩︎
  3. Iowa Code Ann. §§ 146E.2(1)(b)(2); 146E.1(3). In July 2024, following a decision from the Iowa Supreme Court, the District Court lifted an injunction blocking enforcement of the law. See Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc. v. Reynolds, 05771 EQCE089066 (Iowa Dist. Ct. Polk Cty. Jul. 22, 2024) (“[T]he temporary injunction shall be deemed dissolved effective 8:00 a.m. on Monday, July 29, 2024, and the law may be fully enforced”). ↩︎
  4. Iowa Code Ann. §§ 146B.2, 707.7.. ↩︎
  5. See, e.g., Iowa Code Ann. §§ 147.55, 146B.3, 148.6, 135L.3(n), 707.7. ↩︎
  6. Iowa Code Ann. § 707.8A, invalidated by Planned Parenthood Inc. v. Miller, 195 F.3d 386, 388 (8th Cir. 1999). Iowa Admin. Code r. 653-13.10(3), invalidated by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc. v. Iowa Bd. of Med., 865 N.W.2d 252, 269 (Iowa 2015). ↩︎
  7. Iowa Code Ann. § 146A.1. ↩︎
  8. Iowa Code Ann. §§ 135L.3(1), 135L.3(3). ↩︎
  9. Iowa Admin. Code r. 441-78.1(249A). ↩︎
  10. Iowa Code Ann. §§ 707.7(3); 146B.2(3); Iowa Admin. Code r. 641-100.5(144). ↩︎
  11. See, e.g., Iowa Code Ann. §§ 147.55, 146B.3, 148.6, 135L.3(n), 707.7. ↩︎
  12. 1976 Iowa Acts 774. Sec. 526 repealed Chapter 701, including Iowa Code Ann. § 701.1 (1950): “If any person, with intent to produce a miscarriage of any woman, willfully administer to her any drug or substance whatever, or, with such intent, use any instrument or other means whatever, unless such miscarriage shall be necessary to save her life, he shall be imprisoned.” Text available in State v. Snyder, 59 N.W.2d 223, 225 (Iowa 1953). ↩︎