Iowa just passed a bill to make abortion no longer protected by the Iowa constitution. Do the executive orders or roe v wade override this?
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To my understanding, states are free to pass such laws if they want, which could later then be brought up to the supreme court of the US (or lower federal court possibly in some situations) by someone affected by the law.
They can pass any law about it, however the existence of Roe v Wade means that the law is not enforceable, but it may alter people’s behaviour.
Removing a protection from the state constitution changes nothing, directly. It means that a subsequent law outlawing abortion could not be struck down in state court, because it wouldn’t violate the state constitution.
Such an abortion ban would still violate the US Constitution, as set in Roe vs Wade, but that’s a matter for the federal courts. This could be just a complex venue shopping scheme to get future Iowa laws directly into federal court without spending time in state courts first.
I’m sorta surprised that the Iowa constitution can be changed by a bill in the legislature, as in most states voters would have to vote for such a change. Maybe some Iowan can explain that aspect.
Roe v Wade is a hindrance to any legislation restricting abortion rights. Any state level legislation or constitutional passages protecting abortion rights is also a hindrance to restricting abortion rights.
Eliminating either is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for any plans to restrict abortion rights.
If Roe v Wade is overturned or undermined to some extent, any state with its own protections on the books would still be prevented from restricting abortions. Thus any state that would like to be able to do that would need to remove those state level protections, but would still need to wait for a ruling that runs counter to Roe v Wade in order to implement those policies.
(Or, more likely, would immediately implement those policies expecting to get sued over it and then take it to the Supreme Court hoping for a favorable ruling that goes against Roe)
Ok. Thank you. Do executive orders typically ever get pushed through as a bill to make it so they aren’teasily undone by the next ?
Executive Orders are not laws. States do not have to abide by them. Only Congress can make laws.
The Roe v Wade thing will have to be dealt with in court. Just because the constitution of a state changes it to not be protected, doesn’t mean it will be ruled illegal. Though that’s probably coming.
Then there will need to be lawsuits, and it will probably end up in the USSC.
These states are passing laws in hopes of RvW being overturned. They want to be ready to go the second SCOTUS changes their minds. A law was passed in my state and the legislators said “we know this is meaningless today, but we’re ready to go.”
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