Good News: Iowa Judge Upholds 72-Hour Waiting Period before Abortion

Fr. Mark Hodges : Oct 4, 2017
LifeSiteNews.com

"The law makes it so that a doctor can't perform an abortion unless the mother has an opportunity to see her child through an ultrasound and hear the child's beating heart, giving her time to think about whether or not she wants to stop that beating heart. If that time of reflection changes just one mind, then the law has accomplished what it set out to do..." -Spokeswoman Brenna Smith

(Des Moines, IA)—[LifeSiteNews.com] Planned Parenthood lost its bid to stop Iowa's pro-life waiting period law. (Photo: Waiting room/via LifeSiteNews.com)

District Court Judge Jeffrey Farrell turned down the abortion giant in its request for a permanent injunction blocking the law, which requires mothers to consider what they're doing for 72 hours before getting an abortion.  

In doing so, Farrell ruled that pro-life waiting period laws are constitutional.

The law, which then-Gov. Terry Branstad signed in May before he became Ambassador to China, also bans abortions on pain-capable pre-borns after 20 weeks' gestation. It also requires an ultrasound to accurately determine gestational age and gives women the choice of seeing and/or hearing the ultrasound.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland (PPH) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are appealing the law, which they call "malicious" and "anti-woman," to the Iowa Supreme Court. In the meantime, the law is on hold.

PPH president Suzanna de Baca vowed to fight the law. "This unconstitutional disregard by lawmakers—including (current pro-life Republican) Gov. Kim Reynolds—for women and their right to abortion access, is unacceptable," she said. "We will fight with every available resource until we ensure that all women have access to the care they need." 

Waiting periods are on the books in most states...

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