Iowa Supreme Court blocks six-week abortion ban

The Supreme Court of Iowa blocked legislation from Governor Kim Reynolds (R) banning abortion after the six-week mark and keeping the 20-week prohibition that previously existed.

The 3-3 decision, which was made on Friday, meant that the lower court ruling remained in place since the Supreme Court was unable to come to a majority decision.

The six-week ban was initially passed in 2019 but was struck down because of Roe v. Wade. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Reynolds demanded a review of her six-week abortion ban.

Justice Thomas Waterman, who led the coalition voting down the ban, stated the case "involves the polarizing issue of abortion, and specifically an unprecedented effort to judicially revive a statute that was declared unconstitutional in a never-appealed final judgment four years ago."

The opposing justices didn't seem to care about Waterman's argument concerning the timeline and considered the legislation legitimate with Roe v. Wade no longer being an issue.

With this decision, Iowa's legislative body will likely have to vote in a new bill in order to defeat Waterman's concerns about "legislating from the bench."