Elissa Graves, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom, says Iowa has a 24-hour waiting period that was struck down by a district court, which triggered ADF’s legal actions.
“We filed a friend-of-the-court brief," she explains, "asking that the Iowa Supreme Court overturn a decision called Planned Parenthood of the Heartland v Reynolds that declared abortion a fundamental right. And in doing that, we're supporting the state of Iowa in trying to overturn that decision."
A decision is expected within the next year.
Meanwhile, abortion advocates point to the rights to privacy and equal protection as being a right to abortion.
"The Reynolds court invented this right to abortion in the Iowa constitution," counters Graves, "saying that in order for women to be equal, they have to have access to abortion. And this is an absurd and insulting idea. Women do not need abortion to succeed in their lives and careers.”
Graves points out that a majority of states have a waiting period before an abortion, many of them at least 24 hours and some as long as 72 hours. So what is happening in Iowa, he warns, impacts what is happening across the nation.
