Iowa governor Kim Reynolds announced Friday that she will sign a bill banning abortion after six weeks into law, enacting what will be the strictest abortion regulation in the country.
The bill, which passed the Iowa legislature Wednesday, bans most abortions after a “fetal heartbeat” can be detected, which usually occurs around six weeks.
Reynolds previously declined to say whether she would sign the bill but stipulated, “I’m pro-life. I’m proud to be pro-life. I’ve made that very clear” when pressed by reporters Wednesday.
Iowa’s Planned Parenthood chapter and the ACLU have already vowed to challenge the law in court, setting up a potential Supreme Court fight — one Iowa’s Republican lawmakers are eager for due to the recent appointment of conservative justice Neil Gorsuch.
“We created an opportunity to take a run at Roe v. Wade — 100 percent,” Republican state senator Rick Bertrand of Sioux City told Reuters.
“We will challenge this law with absolutely everything we have on behalf of our patients,” said Suzanna de Baca, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, in a statement.
A federal appeals court struck down similar legislation — passed in Arkansas and North Dakota — three years ago.
The bill, which provides exceptions for victims of rape and incest, comes roughly a month after Mississippi’s governor signed a bill into law banning abortion after 15 weeks, prompting an immediate legal challenge from Planned Parenthood. A Kentucky law signed in April that bans abortion after eleven weeks also drew a legal challenge.
The Ohio legislature passed a “fetal heartbeat” abortion law in 2016, but Republican governor John Kasich refused to sign it.