IOWA (AP) — An Iowa judge has blocked a state law that would have imposed a 24-hour waiting period before women could get abortions, likely setting up a legal battle before the state Supreme Court.
Judge Mitchell Turner ruled Monday that because legislators passed the law last year as an amendment to an unrelated bill, it violated the Iowa Constitution’s single-subject rule, which requires amendments and bills to naturally relate to one another. Furthermore, he found that the law also ran afoul of a 2018 Iowa Supreme Court decision that protects abortion rights.
Abortion rights advocates celebrated the ruling, saying it would preserve women’s access to the procedure. A spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office says the state expects to appeal.
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