Judge Declines To ‘Flippantly’ Rule From The Bench, So Iowa’s New Abortion Ban Now Takes Effect

An Iowa judge said Friday that it would be “insulting” for him to “flippantly” rule on blocking Iowa’s new six-week abortion ban from the bench, meaning that the ban will be live for at least a few days this weekend. 

Judge Joseph Seidlin said that he’d “do his best” to get the ruling done by the end of Monday. 

Governor Kim Reynolds (R), meanwhile, signed the ban into law Friday afternoon at an event where former Fox News host Tucker Carlson interviewed Republican 2024 hopefuls. 

Peter Im, the lawyer for Planned Parenthood, had asked Seidlin to rule immediately, pointing to Reynolds’ imminent signature. 

Seidlin replied that the issue requires his “lengthy” attention and study. 

The Iowa legislature passed the six-week ban in a special session earlier this week, starting and finishing the process within a day. Reynolds had called for the legislature to return for the session after the Iowa Supreme Court deadlocked on an older version of the six-week ban, leaving it permanently blocked, specifically to pass a new restriction. 

It’s a sea change in Iowa, which previously allowed abortion up to 22 weeks. 

The White House reacted Friday afternoon.

“Iowa’s new law will penalize health care providers and cause delays and denials of health and life-saving care,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

Reynolds got a standing ovation when she took the stage at the Carlson event, and took potshots at the state Supreme Court for deadlocking. 

“They also expressed their uncertainty that such a law would pass today post Roe, as if the politics of the day would change our view on life,” she said of the three justices who voted to block the ban. “They were wrong,” she said to raucous applause and cheers.  

The ban took effect immediately, meaning it’s now the law of the land in Iowa.