
Iowa law barring most abortions after about six weeks will take effect Monday, judge orders
CNN
An Iowa judge has ruled the state’s strict abortion law will take effect Monday, preventing most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.
An Iowa judge has ruled the state’s strict abortion law will take effect Monday, preventing most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. The law passed last year, but a judge had blocked it from being enforced. The Iowa Supreme Court reiterated in June there is no constitutional right to an abortion in the state and ordered the hold to be lifted. That translated into Monday’s district court judge’s decision ordering the law to go into effect next Monday at 8 a.m. local time. Lawyers representing abortion providers asked Judge Jeffrey Farrell for notice before allowing the law to take hold, saying a buffer period was needed to provide continuity of services. Iowa requires pregnant women to wait 24 hours for an abortion after getting an initial consultation. Abortion had been legal in the state up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. The high court’s order gave a decisive win to Iowa’s Republican leaders after years of legislative and legal battles. Iowa will join more than a dozen states where abortion access has been sharply curbed in the two years since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Currently, 14 states have near-total bans at all stages of pregnancy and three states ban abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. That’s roughly when a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Iowa’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed the law in a special session last July, and a legal challenge was immediately filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, Planned Parenthood North Central States and the Emma Goldman Clinic. The law was in effect for just a few days before a district court judge temporarily blocked it.

Soon after the convicted murderer and rapist known as the “Devil in the Ozarks” was recaptured after evading police for more than 10 days in the rocky terrain and dense vegetation of rural northwest Arkansas, officials say they interviewed him at least five times about how he pulled off the prison break.

In southeast Washington, DC, children stood in line Friday to receive new backpacks filled with school supplies, while community organizers passed out free hot dogs and hamburgers to teenagers to celebrate the last few days of summer before. But just a few blocks away, the sight of National Guard trucks cut into the celebration — a reminder that the school year will begin under the shadow of federal troops.

President Donald Trump’s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff — one of three American participants in Friday’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin — described on Sunday several major agreements reached during the Alaska talks that he said created strong momentum toward a peace agreement with Ukraine.