FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 13, 2022
Contact: Mary Owens, [email protected]
Pro-Life Advocates Look Forward to Seeing Life-Saving Law Fully Upheld
Washington, D.C. – In response to a state judge’s refusal to unblock Iowa’s law protecting unborn children when their heartbeat can be detected, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America issued the following statement:
“We are disappointed by yet another delay in implementing the clear will of Iowans who enacted life-saving protections for unborn babies with beating hearts, but we hope to see them take full effect very soon. We believe when it comes to protecting unborn children the Court should ultimately allow the will of the people to be heard, just as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs. The Iowa Supreme Court has clearly stated that there is no so-called ‘right’ to abortion in the state constitution, and Iowans have deeply compelling reasons to protect unborn children and their mothers,” said SBA Pro-Life America State Policy Director Katie Glenn.
“We thank pro-life champion Governor Reynolds and Attorney General-elect Brenna Bird for their commitment to defending Iowa’s pro-life laws and will continue working with our allies to save as many lives as possible.”
In June, one week before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision which returned the issue of abortion to the people to decide through their elected representatives, the Iowa Supreme Court reversed a 2018 decision that had imposed a “right” to abortion in the state constitution. However, the reversal left in place the U.S. Supreme Court’s now-obsolete “undue burden” test. Governor Kim Reynolds swiftly urged the Iowa Supreme Court to rehear Planned Parenthood v. Reynolds to clarify that the undue burden test no longer applies.
SBA Pro-Life America Candidate Fund endorsee Attorney General Brenna Bird won election in November after Iowa’s previous attorney general, Tom Miller – a Democrat – declined to participate in the state’s defense of its pro-life laws.
Pro-life laws enacted in two dozen states could potentially save as many as 200,000 lives a year after the Dobbs decision, including nearly 2,000 lives a year specifically in Iowa if heartbeat protections were in effect.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is a network of more than one million pro-life Americans nationwide, dedicated to ending abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives, with a special calling to promote pro-life women leaders.
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