Iowa Abortion Waiting Period Challenged On State Constitutional Grounds

Suit was filed this week in an Iowa state trial court challenging a provision enacted earlier this month requiring women seeking an abortion to first visit a health center to receive an ultrasound and specified information, and then wait at least 24 hours before returning to have an abortion.  The complaint (full text) in Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc. v. Reynolds, (IA Dist. Ct., filed 6/23/2020) challenges the provision only on state constitutional grounds.  It focuses on the Iowa Constitution's single subject, due process, equal protection and inalienable rights provisions, and alleges in part:

The Amendment will be especially harmful during the current COVID-19 pandemic....

[B]y requiring an additional, medically unnecessary visit for abortion patients, despite the overwhelming consensus that providers should be reducing medically unnecessary medical visits during the pandemic, the Amendment puts patients and medical providers at increased risk of COVID-19 transmission....

By imposing a delay on abortion—a delay that the Legislature does not impose on any other medical procedure—the Amendment conveys that the Legislature believes women are not competent to make considered, appropriate medical decisions for themselves and their families, and must instead be forced by the state to reconsider their medical decisions....

[Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Courthouse News Service reports on the lawsuit.