Des Moines, Iowa – Abortion remains legal in Iowa after a state superior court denial on Friday. revive the law That procedure would almost be banned, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds would be rejected, and will remain for now. Conservative nations avoid union with other nations There are strict abortion restrictions.

The Iowa Supreme Court upheld a 2019 district court ruling that blocked the law in an unusual 3-3 ruling. Roughly speaking, the latest judgment One year later from the same body – and the US Supreme Court — determined that women do not have a basic constitutional right to abortion.

Blocked Law Prohibits Abortion Once cardiac activity occurs It can be detected before many women know they are pregnant, usually around the 6th week of pregnancy. The law includes exceptions for medical emergencies, rape, incest and fetal anomalies.

Addressing the three judges who rejected the state’s request to reinstate the law, Justice Thomas Waterman said granting the request would bypass Congress and change the standards of how the courts review the law, He later said it meant reversing an injunction issued by a lower court. law.

“In our view, enacting law in the courts dying law It was ordered to come into force four years after it was enacted,” Waterman wrote.

The court has seven members, but one judge refused to participate. Her previous law firm represented abortion providers. All justices were appointed by Republican governors, five by Reynolds.

In a statement, Reynolds expressed disappointment with the court’s ruling.

“Not only did it ignore the Iowa voters who elected representatives willing to stand up for fetal rights, it simply voided Iowa’s bill on principles now outright rejected. I stand by a single judge in one county. It was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court,” Reynolds said.

“The battle is not over,” Reynolds added. He said the administration was considering options, but did not give specifics, including calling for a special parliament to enact tougher abortion laws.

Republicans hold majorities in both the state’s Senate and Senate, where leaders criticized the ruling and suggested they would work to pass new legislation.

Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of family planning agency North Central States, called the decision a “big win.”

“Based on today’s court ruling, each person has the right to control their own body, and Iowans have that right,” she said in a statement. “With abortion bans, pregnancy is even more dangerous than it is now, and it shouldn’t matter which state you live in.”

The state superior court maintains its injunction on the law, but that doesn’t prevent Reynolds and lawmakers from passing a similar new law. Friday’s decision was largely procedural, with a 2022 appeal of the 2019 ruling coming too late.

Abortion is legal in Iowa up to the 20th week of pregnancy.

Most Republican-led states have gone to abortion in the past year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and devolved power over the issue to states, stripping women of their constitutional right to abortion. access has been severely restricted.

Courts have suspended enforcement of several abortion bans and restrictions pending review of state constitutional compliance, including six that are currently suspended. But since Dobbs, only a handful of cases have been finalized, there is no clear trend as to what the verdict will be.

a State Court of Appeal Decision An abortion ban that dates back to before Arizona was enacted last year doesn’t apply to doctors, but whether it applies to other “helpers” is part of an ongoing legal dispute.of South Carolina Supreme Court Earlier this year, the region banned abortion if heart activity was detected. But since then, states have adopted new bans. the execution was suspended by court.

Judges in several other states have found the ban unconstitutional only in a narrow sense.

Supreme Court of Oklahoma Two state laws banning abortion went into effect last month, but other bans are still in force, so abortion remains illegal at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions.

federal judge last year Idaho bans enforcement of abortion ban It was in a medical emergency shortly after another federal judge ruled against Texas law.

Reynolds signed into law a 2018 Iowa law affirming a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion, despite state and federal court rulings at the time, including that of Roe. Planned family groups sued, and a state judge blocked the law the following year. Reynolds did not appeal the decision at the time.

In another case, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled last year overruling the opinion that the state constitution affirms the fundamental right to abortion. The Ro decision was overturned a week later, and Reynolds sought to reverse his 2019 decision.

a A state judge ruled last year Reynolds appealed to the state Supreme Court, claiming she had no authority to do so, but the law is now much more conservative than when it was first passed. Reynolds appointed five of the court’s seven members.

Friday’s ruling was a tie, so the Court upholds the lower court’s decision, but otherwise the High Court’s opinion has no other authority. This means that previous decisions applying the “unreasonable burden test” to abortion law remain in force.

An undue burden is an intermediate level of oversight that requires the law not to pose serious obstacles to abortion. State attorneys argued that the statute should be analyzed using rational basis consideration, the lowest level of scrutiny for determining legal issues.

Justice Christopher McDonald wrote in his opinion supporting the repeal of the law that to dismiss the appeal and deny the reinstatement of the law would curtail the powers of the legislature. He went on to argue that there were significant legislative changes that allowed for the dissolution of the 2019 judgment.

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Associated Press reporter Jeff Malvihill of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to the report.