Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc. v. Reynolds ex rel. State

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Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc., Emma Goldman Clinic, and Sarah Traxler, Appellees, v. Kim Reynolds ex rel. State of Iowa, and Iowa Board of Medicine, Appellants.

No. 23-1145

Supreme Court of Iowa

June 28, 2024

Submitted April 11, 2024

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Joseph Seidlin Judge.

In a case challenging the constitutionality of a law prohibiting abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, the defendant state officials appeal the district court's granting of a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of the law. Reversed and Remanded.

Brenna Bird, Attorney General; Eric Wessan (argued), Solicitor General; and Daniel Johnston, Assistant Attorney General, for appellants.

Peter Im (argued) of Planned Parenthood Federation of America Washington, D.C.; Rita Bettis Austen of American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa Foundation, Des Moines; Caitlin Slessor and Samuel E. Jones of Shuttleworth & Ingersoll P.L.C., Cedar Rapids; and Dylan Cowit and Anjali Salvador of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, New York, New York, for appellees.

John Eidsmoe, Montgomery, Alabama, for amici curiae Foundation for Moral Law and Lutherans for Life.

David E. Fowler of Constitutional Government Defense Fund, Franklin, Tennessee, and Justin Reid of Reid Law Firm PLLC, Des Moines, for amici curiae 32 State Family Policy Councils and Family Policy Alliance.

Christopher E. Mills of Spero Law LLC, Charleston, South Carolina, and Timm Reid of Reid Law Firm PLLC, Des Moines, for amicus curiae American College of Pediatricians.

Peter M. Sand, West Des Moines, for amicus curiae American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

D. John Sauer of James Otis Law Group, LLC, St. Louis, Missouri, and Daniel A. Dlouhy of Dlouhy Law, PC, East Dubuque, Illinois, for amicus curiae Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine.

Theodore E. Rokita, Indiana Attorney General; James W. Barta, Indiana Deputy Solicitor General; and Thomas M. Bright, Indiana Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana, for amici curiae State of Indiana and 16 Other States.

Ryan Benn, Indianola, and Mario Diaz, Alexandria, Virginia, for amicus curiae Concerned Women for America.

Christopher P. Schandevel, John J. Bursch, and Erin M. Hawley, Lansdowne, Virginia; Noah H. Ridgway of Hagenow Gustoff &Karas LLP, Des Moines; and Jacob Phillips, Orlando, Florida, for amicus curiae Alliance Defending Freedom.

Chuck Hurley of the Family Leader, Urbandale, and Olivia F. Summers, Washington, D.C., for amici curiae 45 Members of the Iowa Legislature and the American Center for Law & Justice.

Alan R. Ostergren, Des Moines, for amicus curiae the Kirkwood Institute, Inc.

Roxanne Barton Conlin and Devin C. Kelly of Roxanne Conlin &Associates, P.C., Des Moines, for amicus curiae Interfaith Alliance of Iowa.

Joshua S. Opperman and Sonci Kingery, Des Moines, for amici curiae Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

Sarah E. Wilson of Sarah E. Wilson Law Firm, PLC, Ankeny, and Julie E. Fink and Selena Kitchens of Kaplan Hecker &Fink LLP, New York, New York, for amicus curiae The National Infertility Association.

Laura Schultes of RSH Legal, Cedar Rapids, and Jayme Jonat and Charlotte Baigent of Holwell Shuster &Goldberg LLP, New York, New York, for amicus curiae Medical Students for Choice.

Scott M. Brennan, Tyler L. Coe, and Katelynn T. McCollough of Dentons Davis Brown, Des Moines; Diane Siegel Danoff and Christopher J. Merken of Dechert LLP, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Nina S. Riegelsberger of Dechert LLP, New York, New York, for amici curiae Non-Iowan Abortion Care Providers.

Nicole A. Saharsky of Mayer Brown LLP, Washington, DC, and Dane Schumann of Capitol Counsel, P.L.L.C., Urbandale, for amici curiae American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Medical Association, Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Society of Family Planning, and American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

McDermott, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which McDonald, Oxley, and May, JJ., joined. Christensen, C.J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Mansfield and Waterman, JJ., joined. Mansfield, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Christensen, C.J., and Waterman, J., joined.

McDermott, Justice.

The State asks us to dissolve a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of a statute that prohibits physicians, with certain exceptions, from performing an abortion after detecting a fetal heartbeat. In granting the injunction, the district court applied an "undue burden" test and concluded that the petitioners were likely to succeed in their constitutional substantive due process challenge. The State asks us to dissolve that injunction, arguing that the district court applied the wrong constitutional test and that the court must instead review the abortion restriction under the less demanding "rational basis" test.

When a party alleges that a statute violates a due process right, the nature of the individual right at stake dictates the constitutional test that the court applies. Under our well-established tiers of scrutiny, if the government action implicates a "fundamental" right, we apply the strict scrutiny test and determine whether the government's action is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest. But if the right at stake is not a fundamental right, then we apply the rational basis test and determine whether the law is rationally related to a legitimate state interest.

We have previously held that abortion is not a fundamental right under the Iowa Constitution. See Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc. v. Reynolds ex rel. State (PPH 2022), 975 N.W.2d 710, 740 (Iowa 2022). Applying our established tiers of scrutiny, we hold that abortion restrictions alleged to violate the due process clause are subject to the rational basis test. Employing that test here, we conclude that the fetal heartbeat statute is rationally related to the state's legitimate interest in protecting unborn life. We thus reverse the district court order entering the temporary injunction blocking enforcement of the fetal heartbeat statute and remand for further proceedings.

I.

The law challenged in this case bars most abortions when there is a "detectable fetal heartbeat." Iowa Code § 146E.2(2)(a) (2023). Under this statute, a physician must perform an abdominal ultrasound to detect cardiac activity and "shall inform the pregnant woman, in writing," whether any cardiac activity was detected and, if so, that "an abortion is prohibited." Id. § 146E.2(1)(b)(1)-(2). The pregnant woman must sign a form acknowledging receipt of this information. Id. § 146E.2(1)(c).

The statute includes exceptions that allow an abortion after detection of a fetal heartbeat if there is a medical emergency or if the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. Id. §§ 146E.1(3)-(4), .2(2)(a). The medical emergency exception allows an abortion to "preserve the life of the pregnant woman whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy." Id. § 146A.1(6)(a); id. § 146E.1(4). For the rape exception to apply, the rape must be "reported within forty-five days of the incident to a law enforcement agency or to a public or private health agency which may include a family physician." Id. § 146E.1(3)(a). The incest exception applies if the incest "is reported within one hundred forty days of the incident to a law enforcement agency or to a public or private health agency which may include a family physician." Id. § 146E.1(3)(b).

Abortions are almost entirely prohibited when a fetal heartbeat is detected after twenty or more weeks. See id. § 146E.2(2)(b). The only exceptions after that date are when "in the physician's reasonable medical judgment the pregnant woman has a condition which the physician deems a medical emergency" or when "the abortion is necessary to preserve the life of an unborn child." Id.

This statute came into being after Governor Kim Reynolds called a special session of the Iowa Legislature for "the sole purpose of enacting legislation that addresses abortion and protects unborn lives." Press Release, Off. of the Governor of Iowa, Gov. Reynolds Calls Special Session to Enact Pro-life Legislation (July 5, 2023), https://governor.iowa.gov/press-release/2023-07-05/gov-reyn-olds-calls-special-session-enact-pro-life-legislation [https://perma.cc/7YLY-YDD9]. On July 11, 2023, at that special session, the legislature passed a fetal heartbeat bill nearly mirroring an earlier fetal heartbeat statute enacted in 2018. Compare 2023 Iowa Acts ch. 1, §§ 1-2 (codified at Iowa Code §§ 146E.1, .2 (2024)), with 2018 Iowa Acts ch. 1132, §§ 3-4 (codified at Iowa Code §§ 146C.1, .2 (2019)). Governor Reynolds announced her plan to sign the bill at an event on July 14.

On July 12, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Emma Goldman Clinic and Sarah Traxler, M.D. (collectively, "Planned Parenthood"), filed a petition for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief. They named as defendants Governor Reynolds and the Iowa Board of Medicine (together, "the State"). The petition for declaratory judgment alleged that the fetal heartbeat statute violated three provisions in the Iowa Constitution: the due process clause in article I, § 9; the "inalienable rights" clause in article I, § 1; and the equal protection clause in article I, §§ 1 and 6. That same day, Planned Parenthood also moved for an emergency temporary injunction. Its motion asked the district court to block enforcement of the statute until the court could rule on the merits of the constitutional challenge. The district...