Matt Windschitl. (IA Legislature)
A Republican leader in the Iowa House says lawmakers need to wait for an Iowa Supreme Court opinion before trying to enact new abortion restrictions.
A district court ruling has blocked a 2018 state law to ban most abortions after the sixth week of a pregnancy from taking effect. Governor Reynolds has asked the Iowa Supreme Court to intervene. House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley says the legislature’s next step will be guided by how the court rules.
“Until we know what the courts are going to say on that issue, it would be premature for us to actually write legislation that might actually take us backwards,” Windschitl says.
Earlier this week, a couple of Republican lawmakers said they intend to introduce a bill this year that would ban all abortions in Iowa. Windschitl says that’s the ultimate goal.
“We do want to get to that point where all babies are protected and all moms are protected and we are working through that process,” Windschitl says, “but we don’t want to do something that puts us behind the eight ball again in regards to how the courts are going to rule on the current injunction that’s there, so we have to be a little bit patient with that and see what the courts are going to say and then will move forward appropriately as we get a little better lay of the land.”
Windschitl made his comments this morning at the Westside Conservative Club’s breakfast meeting in Urbandale.
This past summer the Iowa Supreme Court reversed a 2018 decision that said Iowa women have a constitutional right to an abortion, a ruling that let a 24-hour waiting period for abortions take effect. The court is now considering a different lawsuit filed to block a ban on abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy.