Unborn children get their day at Iowa Supreme Court

WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys

WHAT: Available for media interviews following oral arguments in Planned Parenthood of the Heartland v. Reynolds

WHEN: Immediately following hearing, which begins at 9 a.m. CDT, Tuesday, April 11

WHERE: Iowa Supreme Court, 1111 E. Court Ave., Des Moines. To schedule an interview, contact ADF Media Relations Manager Bernadette Tasy at (480) 356-0324.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Gov. Kim Reynolds will be available for media interviews Tuesday following oral arguments at the Iowa Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood of the Heartland v. Reynolds.

ADF attorneys serving as co-counsel alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and local counsel Alan Ostergren are asking the state’s high court to allow the state’s fetal heartbeat law to take effect. The 2018 law protects unborn lives after a fetal heartbeat is detected.

“Iowa is eager to affirm that life is a human right, and now the state’s high court has the opportunity to finally allow Iowa’s validly enacted fetal heartbeat law to take effect and save the lives of countless unborn children,” said ADF Senior Counsel Chris Schandevel, who will be arguing before the court. “On behalf of Gov. Kim Reynolds and all Iowans who support life, we are urging the Iowa Supreme Court to lift the lower court’s outdated injunction on the state’s fetal heartbeat law, sparing countless unborn lives and protecting the dignity and health of women by offering them real support and life-affirming health care—not the abortion industry’s false choice between doing what’s best for them and protecting the life of their child.”

In 2019, a state trial court put the fetal heartbeat law on hold based on an Iowa Supreme Court decision that had found a state constitutional right to abortion. Last year, ADF attorneys helped persuade the Iowa Supreme Court to overrule that decision. So Reynolds is asking the court to lift the now-outdated injunction on the fetal heartbeat law.

Iowa’s fetal heartbeat law contains exceptions for medical emergencies, including threats to the mother’s life and serious risk of bodily harm, and for cases of rape, incest, and fetal abnormality. It also only requires an abdominal ultrasound, which means that for most women it would not take effect until eight or nine weeks into pregnancy.

• Pronunciation guide: Schandevel (SHAN’-deh-vell)

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.

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