Grassley says he’ll respect SCOTUS’s decision as it hears arguments in Mississippi abortion case
The Iowa Senator previously served as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and oversaw the appointment of Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
U.S Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaks with the Daily Iowan staff after a visit to Mercy Hospital on July 2, 2019.
December 1, 2021
As the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on a Mississippi abortion law banning the procedure 15 weeks after pregnancy, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he hopes everyone will accept the judgment of the court in this case.
“I have faith in the checks and balances of the government, they’re in the constitution,” Grassley said in a press call on Wednesday morning.
Grassley served as the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the first two years of the Trump presidency, where he oversaw the appointment of conservative Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Grassley said there are some judges he has voted for who have made decisions he disagrees with, but that he has to accept their decision, and he hopes others will accept it too.
Other Republican members of Iowa’s delegation have been speaking in favor of the Mississippi law, with Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Randy Feenstra both sharing an image with the words “An unborn child is a human life” on Twitter.
We must always work to protect those who cannot protect themselves #ProLife pic.twitter.com/0nQ0ZWMf87
— Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, M.D. (@RepMMM) December 1, 2021
Rep. Ashley Hinson also shared a video message to constituents saying the law should stand.
Ahead of the SCOTUS hearing, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, she was grateful the case was coming before the Supreme Court.
“The Mississippi law is going to save lives and it will allow voters in pro-life states like Iowa to make those decisiosn and protect the most vulnerable people in our society, and those are the lives of the unborn,” Ernst said.
As previously reported by The Daily Iowan, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law in 2018 that required a physician to do an abdominal ultrasound to test for a fetal heartbeat on anyone seeking an abortion. The abortion could not be performed if a heartbeat was detected. This law was ruled unconstitutional by a Polk County district court judge.
Reynolds also signed a bill amendment into law in 2020 requiring a physician performing an abortion to obtain written certification for a person seeking an abortion at least 24 hours in advance, but the law was blacked by a judge in June this year.
Iowa legislators are currently trying to amend the state’s constitution to say abortion in not a protected right.