DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) 鈥� The Iowa Supreme Court has reversed a lower court ruling that put a temporary block on the state鈥檚 strict abortion law, and is telling the lower court to let the law take effect.
In Friday鈥檚 ruling, the high court told the lower court to dissolve the temporary injunction and continue with further proceedings.
The new law bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant.
The bench鈥檚 majority ruling Friday is a win for Republican lawmakers.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP鈥檚 earlier story follows below.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) 鈥� The Iowa Supreme Court is expected to weigh in Friday on the state鈥檚 temporarily blocked , which prohibits abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant.
With the law on hold, is legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. On Friday, the justices could uphold or reject a lower court ruling that temporarily blocked enforcement of the law, with or without offering comments on whether the law itself is constitutional. Both supporters of the law and the abortion providers opposed to it were preparing for the various possibilities.
The high court鈥檚 highly anticipated ruling will be the latest in an already yearslong legal battle over abortion restrictions in the state that escalated when the Iowa Supreme Court and then the U.S. Supreme Court both overturned decisions establishing a constitutional right to abortion.
Most Republican-led states across the country have limited abortion access since 2022, when . Currently, have near-total bans at all stages of pregnancy, and three ban abortions at about six weeks.
The Iowa law passed with exclusively Republican support in a one-day . A by the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, Planned Parenthood North Central States and the Emma Goldman Clinic.
The law was in effect for a few days before a district court , a decision Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds appealed.
Iowa鈥檚 high court has not yet resolved whether earlier rulings that applied an 鈥渦ndue burden test鈥� for abortion laws should remain in effect. The undue burden test is an intermediate level of analysis that questions whether laws create too significant an obstacle to abortion.
The state argued the law should be analyzed using rational basis review, the least strict approach to judging legal challenges, and the court should simply weigh whether the government has a legitimate interest in restricting the procedure.
Representing the state during oral arguments in April, attorney Eric Wessan said that the bench already indicated what鈥檚 appropriate in this case when they ruled that there鈥檚 no 鈥渇undamental right鈥� to abortion in the state constitution.
鈥淭his court has never before recognized a quasi-fundamental or a fundamental-ish right,鈥� he said.
But Peter Im, an attorney for Planned Parenthood, told the justices there are core constitutional rights at stake that merit the court鈥檚 consideration of whether there is too heavy a burden on people seeking abortion access.
鈥淚t is emphatically this court鈥檚 role and duty to say how the Iowa Constitution protects individual rights, how it protects bodily autonomy, how it protects Iowans鈥� rights to exercise dominion over their own bodies,鈥� he said.
Hannah Fingerhut, The Associated Press
