This story originally appeared in LV Daily, Little Village’s Monday-Friday email newsletter. Sign up to have it delivered for free to your inbox. Abortion is legal again in Iowa, after a Polk County District Court judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the state from enforcing the severe abortion ban Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into […]
Iowa Supreme Court
Gov. Reynolds calls a special session of the Iowa legislature to pass a new abortion ban
On Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a proclamation calling the Iowa Legislature into a special session that starts at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday for “the sole and single purpose” of passing what would be one of the country’s strictest bans on abortion. “I believe the pro-life movement is the most important human rights cause […]
Iowans’ abortion rights preserved as justices fail to reach decision on Reynolds’ petition
Abortion remains legal in Iowa up to the 20th week of pregnancy as Gov. Kim Reynolds’ latest effort to outlaw almost all abortions in Iowa failed on Friday. The Iowa Supreme Court split 3-3 on her unprecedented petition to have the court dissolve the 2019 permanent injunction on the six-week abortion ban the governor signed […]
Iowa Supreme Court rejects Gov. Reynolds’ attempt to have open records lawsuit thrown out
On Friday, the Iowa Supreme Court rejected Gov. Kim Reynolds’ attempt to have a lawsuit alleging violations of the state’s Open Record Act dismissed. The justices rejected the governor’s argument that the law’s requirement to respond to requests in a timely manner cannot be enforced when a governor ignores it. The court also found that […]
‘Healing is fundamentally a political act’: Future doctors grapple with the encroachment of anti-abortion laws on Iowa health care
Medical students in Iowa watched with growing concern as the Iowa Supreme Court decided in June to no longer recognize the right to abortion as a fundamental right. A week later the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Both of the state’s medical schools, the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medical and Des […]
A legal guide to self-managed abortion in Iowa, even if a six-week ban is passed
Note: The term “woman” and she/her pronouns are occasionally used in this article to refer to a hypothetical pregnant person seeking abortion. In reality, this person could be a woman, child, nonbinary person or transgender man. The recent Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health overturning Roe v. Wade left the right to […]
‘This is not the end. The end is when we win’: Thousands rally at the Iowa State Capitol for abortion rights
“All of us are here today to stand in solidarity with all of you, as we stand with child-bearing people all over the country,” Luana Nelson-Brown told the more than 2,000 people gathered on the West Terrace of the Iowa State Capitol on Sunday afternoon for the Iowans for Reproductive Justice Rally. Nelson-Brown is the […]
Iowa Supreme Court rejects key part of Gov. Reynolds’ attempt to impose further abortion restrictions
The Iowa Supreme Court has rejected Gov. Kim Reynolds’ request to reconsider its recent abortion decision, keeping in place its instruction to a lower court to use the “undue burden standard” to determine if abortion restrictions violate the rights of Iowans guaranteed by the state constitution. Reynolds’ petition for a rehearing of a case regarding […]
Gov. Reynolds won’t ask lawmakers to outlaw abortion yet, will try to get the courts to do that
Gov. Kim Reynolds said on Wednesday she’s waiting until state courts decide whether to revive a never-enforced 2018 law banning almost all abortions in Iowa, before she’ll announce if there will be a special session of the Iowa Legislature this year to further restrict reproductive rights. The so-called “fetal heartbeat bill” was struck down as […]
Gov. Kim Reynolds announces plans to severely restrict abortion in Iowa
Four days after the U.S. Supreme Court discarded half a century of established legal precedent to end constitutional protection for the right to an abortion, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she’s taking action to almost completely ban abortion in Iowa. “The Supreme Court’s historic decision reaffirms that states have the right to protect the innocent and […]
The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, rescinding a right for the first time in its history
“As of today, this Court holds, a State can always force a woman to give birth, prohibiting even the earliest abortions,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote, summing up what the Republican-appointed majority on the U.S. Supreme Court did in its decision Friday that stripped Americans of the federally protected right to abortion. “A State can thus […]
Iowa Supreme Court slashes abortion rights protections, Reynolds calls decision ‘a significant victory’
Just four years after its landmark decision establishing the fundamental right to an abortion as not only protected by the Iowa Constitution, but having greater protection under the state constitution than under the U.S. Constitution, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the right is not in the Iowa Constitution, allowing a state-mandated 24-hour […]




