Iowa judge blocks state's six-week abortion ban

An Iowa judge blocked the Hawkeye State's six-week abortion ban that Gov. Kim Reynolds, R, signed into law last week.

While touted as a six-week ban, the measure prohibits abortion at the point of detection of a fetal heartbeat, which typically occurs around that time. The ban provides exceptions for rape and incest if those instances are reported to police and for threats to the life or health of the mother.

Planned Parenthood North Central States, the Emma Goldman Clinic, and the ACLU of Iowa have challenged the ban, securing the Monday stay from Judge Joseph Seidlin, the Associated Press reported. His order restores the state's existing 20-week threshold as the challenge progresses.

In 2018, the state passed a similar ban, though the state Supreme Court deadlocked over whether to allow it to take effect upon the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson that overturned the constitutional right to the procedure.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.