DES MOINES, Iowa — After years of back and forth between Iowa's governor and its Planned Parenthood chapter over abortion rights in the state, the Iowa Supreme Court is set to announce its final ruling Friday.
Current Iowa law, signed in 2017 by former Gov. Terry Brandstad, bans abortions after 20 weeks.
Reynolds hopes to change that time limit to six weeks, effectively banning the majority of abortions in Iowa.
Justice Dana Oxley has recused herself from the case, in turn paving the way for a possible 3-3 split. If justices split 3-3, this would affirm the lower court's ruling, meaning women would still have access to abortions up until the 20-week mark.
Justices could also hand down an opinion that agrees with Reynolds' attorneys. If this happens, legal expert Sally Frank says that doesn't mean the six-week ban would immediately be law in Iowa.
"It would take 21 days before the opinion takes effect," said Frank. "They issue a procedendo, and that's probably to give people a chance to file motions to reconsider whatever other kinds of motions they might want to file."
A third option is justices issuing a majority opinion in favor of Planned Parenthood, which Frank anticipates would likely focus on the process of how Reynolds' attorneys went about this case.
"This is an improper procedure," said Frank. "If they do that, the status quo remains, which means abortion is legal up to 20 weeks in Iowa."
The legislative battle began in 2018 when Reynolds signed what she dubbed the "Fetal Heartbeat Bill", which would ban abortions as soon as any embryonic cardiac activity is detected.
Typically, this happens around the six-week mark, though medical experts have varying opinions on whether cardiac activity is synonymous with a heartbeat.
Planned Parenthood then filed an injunction against Reynolds for the restrictions proposed in the 2018 bill. In response, the Iowa Supreme Court maintained the 20-week ban and struck down the 72-hour waiting period.
Ultimately, Polk County District Judge Michael Huppert struck down Reynolds' bill in 2019, citing a 2018 opinion from the Iowa Supreme Court that reads in part:
"A woman’s right to decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy is a fundamental right under the Iowa Constitution, and that any governmental limits on that right are to be analyzed using strict scrutiny."
Reynolds continued to advocate for a 24-hour waiting period, which Planned Parenthood filed an injunction on in June 2021. It was blocked by Judge Mitchell Turner that same month.
On June 17, 2022, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that abortion was not a fundamental right as guaranteed by the state constitution.
A week later, Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court and the future of Iowa's abortion guidelines grew murkier. Reynolds asked Iowa courts to lift the injunction on her bill only four days later.
The Iowa Supreme Court denied Reynolds' request to rehear the case for a 24-hour waiting period in July 2022, and a Polk County judge similarly shot down another injunction removal on the bill itself in December 2022.
Following another failed attempt at having her bill reheard, Reynolds appealed for the Polk County Judge's decision to be reviewed by the Iowa Supreme Court.
The Associated Press contributed to this report