Legal expert: Abortion bill would face long court battle
Lawmakers will be back at the statehouse Tuesday to debate and vote on a new abortion bill.
But even if the bill is passed and signed into law, legal experts say it likely has a long road ahead in court.
The new plan would ban any abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detectable, usually around six weeks of pregnancy.
It's almost identical to a 2018 law that was ruled unconstitutional before Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Drake Law Professor Sally Frank told KCCI last month a new ban will likely also face a long legal battle.
“Most likely, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood will again sue,” Frank said.
How would a court decide whether the new abortion ban is constitutional?
Frank says the court could rule that there's a rational basis for the law. Or they could use a stricter test from a past U.S. Supreme Court case.
That test says laws can't put an undue burden on people's access to abortion.
“A ban unquestionably is an undue burden,” Frank said. “So if that's the standard, then it's unconstitutional if the standard is rational basis. That's a very forgiving standard. If a judge can come up with any rationale for passing a statute, it passes rational basis. So things are almost never overturned when rational basis is the test.”
Frank says whatever the district court decides, it will likely be appealed.
“It would go to the Iowa Supreme Court with the question squarely and properly in front of it. And they'll probably say the test is rational basis and uphold it,” she said.
If the plan is passed next week and signed into law, Frank says it likely would not take effect until there's a final ruling.
“I would guess probably we've got another year of legal abortion in Iowa, at least,” Frank said.
The bill says pregnant women would not face civil or criminal charges if a doctor violates the new rules and performs an illegal abortion.
But the board of medicine would oversee administering the new rules.