Following Roe’s overturn, ADF attorneys representing governor ask IA high court to revise recent decision

DES MOINES, Iowa – Following the recent landmark rulings from the Iowa Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court finding no constitutional right to an abortion, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Gov. Kim Reynolds filed a petition Friday asking the Iowa Supreme Court to rehear its case to declare that courts must give a greater level of deference to pro-life laws like Iowa’s 24-hour waiting period, which helps ensure a woman is fully informed and certain about abortion before having one. That deference, known as “rational-basis review,” means that a law is presumed constitutional unless a party can prove that the government has no rational interest whatsoever in enacting the law.

The state high court’s recent decision in Planned Parenthood of the Heartland v. Reynolds correctly reversed a previous decision by the court that had found a right to abortion in the state constitution. But the court stopped short of declaring what the standard of review should be for pro-life laws going forward. The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which empowered states to regulate abortion in a manner that best preserves the lives of unborn children and their mothers, makes clear that standard should be rational-basis review—not Planned Parenthood v. Casey’s malleable “undue burden” test.

“While we celebrate the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that there are important interests in protecting life, we know our work must continue to enact and preserve laws that protect unborn children and mothers,” said ADF Senior Counsel Denise Harle, director of the ADF Center for Life. “The Iowa Supreme Court took a critical step in recognizing that no right to abortion exists in the state constitution. Now that we have guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court, we are urging the state high court to take the next logical step.”

“In adopting the rational-basis standard, the [U.S.] Supreme Court disavowed Casey’s ‘arbitrary’ and ‘unworkable’ undue-burden test,” the petition for rehearing explains. “Continued adherence to that standard would under­mine, not advance, the evenhanded, predictable, and consis­tent development of legal principles. So the Court rightly discarded it.” And with “the benefit of the Supreme Court’s reasoning, this Court now should do the same,” the petition continued.

• Pronunciation guide: Harle (HAR'-lee)

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

# # #