How Iowa's abortion laws have changed over the decades leading to Friday's ruling

The Iowa Supreme Court announced Thursday it will rule Friday on a 2023 law that would ban most abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy.

It is the latest in a long chain of legal disputes over the status of abortion in Iowa, and the second to involve so-called "fetal heartbeat" legislation.

It will be the sixth case in the past eight years to be captioned "Planned Parenthood of the Heartland v. Kim Reynolds," as the reproductive rights organization has repeatedly clashed with Iowa's Republican governor and Legislature.

Despite hundreds of pages of legal rulings, the court has so far left unanswered critical questions about what kind of abortion restrictions are permitted under the Iowa Constitution.

Here are some of the key points and court cases leading up to Friday's ruling.

1973: Roe v. Wade protects right to abortion

The ground-breaking U.S. Supreme Court ruling for the first time establishes a constitutional right to obtain an abortion. It applies nationwide and in one stroke overrules any state laws that ban abortion, including in Iowa.

1992: Planned Parenthood v. Casey sets 'undue burden' standard

In its 5-4 Casey decision, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirms Roe and for the first time puts forth a new legal standard for abortion laws. States cannot restrict abortion if the laws would impose an "undue burden," which the court defines as a "substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion before the fetus attains viability."

2015: Planned Parenthood v Reynolds I

In 2013, state regulators ban providing abortion-inducing pills via telemedicine. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland sues, and the Iowa Supreme Court two years later strikes down the new rules.

The court's opinion does not declare on the merits what the legal standard for abortion restrictions under the Iowa Constitution should be, but holds that women's right to an abortion under the state constitution is "coextensive" with their rights under the U.S. Constitution, meaning the Casey undue burden standard applies.

2018: Iowa Supreme Court calls abortion 'fundamental right'

Three years later, the Iowa Supreme Court goes further, holding that there is a "fundamental right" under the state constitution to obtain an abortion.

The court's 2018 decision strikes down a law mandating a 72-hour waiting period for abortions and sets an extremely high bar for any future laws seeking to restrict abortion access. Such laws have to pass "strict scrutiny," the highest level of constitutional review, the court rules.

Shortly before the ruling, Reynolds signs into law a "fetal heartbeat" restriction, prohibiting abortion when fetal cardiac activity is detected, usually in about the sixth week of pregnancy. The courts swiftly block the law under the strict scrutiny standard.

2022: Court reverses 'fundamental right' ruling

Four years later, a now more conservative Iowa Supreme Court reverses itself, ruling there is no fundamental right to abortion under the Iowa Constitution and upholding a law establishing a 24-hour waiting period for abortions.

The justices, more than half of whom Reynolds had appointed to the court since 2018, reject their prior precedent, but do not rule what the correct constitutional standard should be. Instead the plurality opinion leaves in place the 2015 decision declaring Iowa law "coextensive" with the federal undue burden standard.

2022: Dobbs decision overturns Roe v Wade

One week after Iowa's Supreme Court overturns its 2018 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court also reverses its prior abortion precedents. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the court overturns both Roe and Casey and holds that at the federal level, the standard for laws restricting abortion is rational basis review ― a determination of whether the government has a legitimate reason to impose a restriction, such as, in the case of abortion, protecting the lives of unborn children.

2023: Iowa justices split 3-3 over undue burden

After the 2022 state and federal decisions, the state moves to lift the permanent injunction blocking Iowa's 2018 fetal heartbeat law. The district judge refuses, finding that under the 2022 Iowa decision, undue burden remains the law of the land.

Reynolds again appeals, but this time, the Iowa Supreme Court deadlocks 3-3, with Justice Dana Oxley recused. Oxley does not give a reason for her recusal, but before joining the court had been an attorney at a law firm that represented an abortion clinic in that case. The tie means that the district court's decision is automatically affirmed, meaning the law remains enjoined.

Related: Iowa Supreme Court's tie vote on 6-week abortion ban puts focus on Justice Dana Oxley

The justices exchange unusually sharp opinions, with three suggesting they remain open to the undue burden standard, and three arguing for the lower rational basis review.

2023: Legislature passes new 'fetal heartbeat' bill

In response to the court's deadlock, Reynolds calls legislators back for a special session, and they pass a new bill very similar to the 2018 law, again banning most abortions after about six weeks.

Planned Parenthood once again files suit, and a district judge once again blocks the law, finding that under the 2015 ruling in Planned Parenthood I, undue burden is still the standard for Iowa abortion laws. The state appeals.

2024: U.S. Supreme Court rules in two abortion cases

The Supreme Court in two June decisions rejects a challenge to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's longstanding approval of mifepristone, one of the drugs often used to terminate a pregnancy during the first 10 weeks. The court also allows abortions for gravely ill women to resume for now in Idaho, which had banned abortions with an exception to save the life of the mother, but made it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless they could demonstrate that the mother's life is in danger — a law that critics said effectively banned emergency abortions, contradicting a federal law. The ruling returns that fight to the lower courts.

2024: Planned Parenthood v Reynolds VI decision

The Iowa Supreme Court, this time with all seven justices participating, rules 4-3 Friday that the 2023 law can take effect.

USA Today contributed to this article.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at [email protected] or 715-573-8166.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Decades of abortion rulings led to Friday decision by Iowa high court