Three days after it was signed into law, a judge in Iowa has temporarily blocked the state’s new six-week abortion ban to allow a court challenge to play out. Polk County District Court Judge Joseph Seidlin issued the order Monday, making abortion in Iowa legal once again up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The ruling comes three days after Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Iowa’s new abortion ban into law Friday, and after pro-choice advocates filed a court challenge.
“The court will grant the temporary injunction requested here. In doing so, it recognizes that there are good, honorable and intelligent people — morally, politically and legally — on both sides of this upsetting societal and constitutional dilemma,” Seidlin wrote. “Patience and perseverance are also hallmark traits on both sides, traits that continue to deserve respect.”
Reynolds vowed Monday to appeal the ruling.
Less than 12 hours after Iowa lawmakers passed the ban, pro-choice advocates, including Iowa’s American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, sued to block the law from going into effect.
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