Iowa politicians respond to the overturning of Roe v. Wade

Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court 1973 ruling that made access to abortion protected under the Constitution, has been overruled in a 6-3 vote.

Gabby Drees

The United States Supreme Court Building is seen on Sunday, April 3, 2022.

Emily Delgado, Politics Reporter
June 24, 2022

The United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with a 6-3 vote, stating that access to abortion is not protected by the Constitution. This decision will remove the federal right to receive an abortion. Going forward, abortion rights will be left to state legislatures. 

“We hold that Roe and [Casey v. Planned Parenthood] must be overruled,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his opinion to the Supreme Court. “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.”

It was hinted that Roe v. Wade would be overturned this year when a draft opinion was leaked in April, but legislators agreed to wait until the court made its final decision.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a tweet, that the decision takes policy making out of the hands of unelected judges.

“This ruling empowers the people through their elected representatives to make common sense policy decisions,” Grassley said.

In Iowa, abortion is illegal after 21 weeks. After the 21 weeks, a pregnant person is allowed to travel out of the state to receive an abortion. On June 17, the Iowa Supreme Court removed the precedent of abortion being protected in the Iowa Constitution, this will allow for any anti-abortion law to be able to pass in the state of Iowa. 

Rep. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa, said the overruling of Roe v. Wade, is removing a fifty-year precedent, as it was established in 1973. 

“It will disproportionately affect the poor, minority communities … this is discriminatory, unfair, upends 50 years of precedent, and goes against the majority opinion of the American people,” Axne said in a prepared statement on Twitter. 

Rep. Mariennette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, agrees with SCOTUS’s opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade and leave the matter of abortion rights to be determined by the states. 

“Today, the Supreme Court made the important decision to allow individual states to be able to uphold the sanctity of life and protect the unborn,” Miller-Meeks wrote in a prepared statement. 

Ahead of the midterm election in November, Iowa Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls, D-Coralville is recommending Iowans vote for pro-choice Democrats.“As long as I serve in public office,” Wahls wrote in a statement on Twitter. “I will not rest until today’s decision is reversed and abortion rights are permanently protected in Iowa and the United States.”