Judge blocks abortion waiting period in Iowa

A ruling this week could set up a legal battle over abortion requirements before the Iowa Supreme Court. State Judge Mitchell Turner struck down a law that would have established a 24-hour waiting period before getting an abortion.

Why did the judge block the law? He said because legislators passed it last year as an amendment to an unrelated bill, it violated the Iowa Constitution’s single-subject rule. That rule requires amendments and bills to relate naturally to one another. He also ruled the law ran afoul of a 2018 Iowa Supreme Court decision that established a constitutional right for women to have an abortion. A spokesman for the Iowa attorney general’s office said the state plans to appeal.

Dig deeper: Read Daniel James Devine’s report on the 2018 Iowa Supreme Court ruling about abortion.