Roe Across the Border

BY PAUL BRENNAN

As this issue of Little Village went to print, abortion up to 20 weeks into a pregnancy remained legal in Iowa. But that was only because a state district court judge issued a temporary injunction stopping enforcement of a near-total ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy that Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law on July 14. Unless the governor’s attorneys persuade the Iowa Supreme Court to reverse the injunction, it will stay in place while the Emma Goldman Clinic and Planned Parenthood of the Heartland challenge the constitutionality of the new law.

The case will certainly end up in the Iowa Supreme Court, but when that will happen and much else remains uncertain. The new law itself is vaguely worded and uses anti-abortion jargon

Minnesota

instead of accurate medical terminology. No rules have been drafted to administer it. There narrow and burdensome exemptions for rape and incest victims, as well as exemptions to save the life of a patient or when the pregnancy poses a “serious

“The message that we’re sending to Minnesota is very clear: your rights are protected in this state,” Gov. Tim Walz said as he signed a bill on Jan. 31 that codified the right to an abortion in state law. It was the first major piece of legislation passed this year by the state legislature.

Missouri

It was the first state in the nation to ban abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade, ending federal recognition of abortion rights. The state legislature passed an abortion ban in 2019 designed to take effect if Roe was overturned. Just minutes after the Supreme Court decision was announced, Missouri’s attorney general declared the abortion ban was now in effect.

Abortion is now illegal in Missouri, except for narrowly defined medical emergencies that put a patient at immediate risk of death. There are no exemptions for victims of rape or incest.

South Dakota

The state was a little slower than Missouri in declaring abortion illegal, even though it had a similar trigger law in place since 2005. The only exemption in the state’s current abortion ban is to save the life of the patient. There are no exemptions for rape or incest.

Abortion up to fetal viability—typically 24 to 26 weeks into a pregnancy—was already legal in Minnesota, with post-viability exemptions to protect the life and health of a patient. The new law will make it more difficult for any future legislature to limit the abortion rights in Minnesota.

Illinois

In 2017, the Illinois Legislature repealed a 42-year-old trigger law that would have made abortion illegal if Roe was overturned. Two years later, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law establishing abortion as a human right in Illinois.

Like in Minnesota, abortion is legal in Illinois prior to fetal viability and there are post-viability exceptions for the life and health of a patient.

Nebraska

In May, Republican governor Jim Pillen signed a bill banning abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy. The bill allows for an abortion if the patient’s life is at stake, but that is the only exception. There is no exemptions for victims of rape or incest. Prior to the new law, abortion had been legal in Nebraska up to 20 weeks into a pregnancy.

Protesters gathered at the Iowa State Capitol on Tuesday, July 11 before Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the six-week abortion ban.

Courtney Guein / Little Village risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.” But there is no official guidance for doctors regarding the limits of the care they can provide under the new law.

Ruth Richardson, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood North Central States (PPNCS) sees this uncertainty as part of a strategy of “manufactured confusion” intended to discourage people from seeking the care they need.

“The unfortunate reality about this situation is that this manufactured confusion and chaos, it’s not new,” Richardson said at a news conference after the temporary injunction was issued on July 17. “Since the Dobbs decision when Roe was overturned, there has been a lot of confusion with patients around what types of health care that they are able to access.”

PPNCS has patient navigators available to help people seeking abortion care, whether at a clinic in Iowa or in a neighboring state. Although abortion remains legal in Iowa as this is being written, it’s still useful to review its status in neighboring states, if only to see how Iowa fits into the post-Roe landscape.

Wisconsin

The situation in Wisconsin is complicated. After Roe was overturned, the Republicans who control the state legislature insisted an 1849 law made it illegal to perform an abortion in the state unless the patient’s life was at risk. That law was suspended by the Roe decision in 1973, but remained on the books. The governor, a Democrat, maintains that a 1985 law that made abortion prior to fetal viability supersedes the 1849 law, so abortion is legal in Wisconsin. Last year, the attorney general, also a Democrat, filed a lawsuit, seeking to have the 1849 law invalidated and the 1985 law upheld. The lawsuit is still before the courts.

—Paul Brennan