Court In Iowa Rules Against Abortion Restriction

It's only a beginning, but an Iowa court judge has ruled that Iowa's "fetal heartbeat" ban on abortions -- the most restrictive in the U.S. -- violated Iowa's state constitution. State district judge Michael Huppert ruled that the ban, enacted by Iowa's reactionary Rethuglican state legislature last May, could mean abortions would be illegal as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women realize they're pregnant, but when a heartbeat might be detected. Medical consensus is that a fetus is viable outside the womb at 24 weeks, the cut off point for most laws restricting abortions.

The point of the "fetal heartbeat" ban was to effectively make abortions illegal well before the viability threshold was reached, and to prompt a challenge to Roe v. Wade:

"The district court decision is a victory for supporters of abortion rights, but abortion opponents have vowed to take the fight to Iowa’s appellate courts, the Des Moines Register and other media reported.

The legislation is aimed at triggering a challenge to Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 landmark decision which established that women have a constitutional right to an abortion, activists on both sides of the issue previously told Reuters."

Anti-choice Rethuglican zealots have been emboldened by the election of their degenerate demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump and are pushing legislation like the "fetal heartbeat" ban on abortion to ultimately overturn Roe v. Wade in court. They lost this round, but their fight against women's reproductive rights goes on, as should ours to oppose them.

(photo: Pro-choice demonstrators outside the Iowa capitol last May. Barbara Rodriguez/AP)