Minnesota prepares for Iowa’s abortion restrictions to take effect on Monday

By Erica Zurek, Minnesota Public Radio News

One of the nation’s strictest abortion laws will take effect in Iowa on Monday. Abortion care providers in Minnesota expect an increase in patients as another border state limits abortion access.

The Iowa law prohibits most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, when fetal cardiac activity can be detected but before many know they are pregnant. The only exceptions to the ban are in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the patient.

Previously, Iowa had permitted abortions until 22 weeks of pregnancy.

Last week, an Iowa district court judge lifted an injunction blocking the six-week abortion ban from going into effect.

Dozens of states instituted at least some restrictions after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal right to abortion more than two years ago.

“When the Dobbs decision came down, many of the patients coming to Iowa were from Missouri,” said Sarah Traxler, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood North Central States. “This is going to have resounding impacts on the region itself, especially the Midwest and the South.”

Traxler added that the Iowa law will “further widen already gaping health inequities affecting the working class, Black people, people living in rural areas and young people.”

According to the Guttmacher Institute, in 2023, about 20 percent of patients served in Minnesota were from out-of-state.

In the past year, Whole Woman’s Health of Minnesota, an independently owned, nonprofit abortion clinic in Bloomington, served patients from North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Indiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Florida and Arkansas.

Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health and Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, said they expect to see an increase.

On Thursday, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan toured the clinic and reiterated that Iowans seeking abortions are welcome in the state. “If you’re afraid, come to Minnesota, we’ve got you.”

Since 2023, Minnesota law includes constitutional protections for abortion and is one of the states that is most protective of access.

Not all are fond of the state’s approach.

Cathy Blaeser, the co-executive director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, said “Minnesotans are not looking to be the abortion mecca of the Midwest” and that MCCL is “encouraged to see Iowa’s increased protection for human beings in the womb, as well as increased protections for women.”

Of the states bordering Minnesota, only Wisconsin permits abortions up to 22 weeks. North Dakota has a near-total ban, as does South Dakota. In November, South Dakota voters will determine whether the state would be “prohibited from regulating a woman’s decision to have an abortion” in the first three months of pregnancy. The ballot measure would only allow abortion regulation from the second trimester forward, and only permit that regulation if it does not interfere with the health of the pregnant person.

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