Photo by Katie Akin/Iowa Capital Dispatch Gov. Kim Reynolds speaks at a Prayer for Life rally.

The pro-life movement is “on the brink of a historic break-through for the right to life,” Gov. Kim Reynolds told attendees of the annual Prayer for Life rally on Monday.

Reynolds, a Republican, told a crowd of activists that cases in the U.S. Supreme Court and Iowa Supreme Court may overturn landmark rulings on abortion, opening the door for more restrictive laws in Iowa.

“There’s never been a more important moment in the history of the pro-life movement,” she said. “Decades of organizing, voting, and above all, praying, are paying off.”

Reynolds and several lawmakers spoke at Monday’s event at the Iowa Capitol, railing against abortion and criticizing courts for protecting it. Reynolds took aim especially at the Iowa Supreme Court’s 2018 decision overturning a 72-hour waiting period – a decision that found Iowa’s constitution recognizes and protects a right to an abortion.

“In Iowa, innocent life should be protected, not discarded,” she said. “Yet with one ruling, Iowa’s laws went from one of the most pro-life in the country to one of the least.”

The Iowa Supreme Court is currently considering an appeal of a similar law requiring a 24-hour waiting period. That decision could overturn the 2018 finding, paving the way for Iowa to pass more restrictive laws on abortion.

“It’s a common-sense measure that deserves to be upheld,” Reynolds said of the 24-hour law. “But it’s also a chance for the state’s Supreme Court to reaffirm what the framers of Iowa’s constitution expressed so eloquently: that every human life is precious.”

Iowa lawmakers also passed a proposed constitutional amendment in 2021. It would explicitly state that Iowa does not recognize a right to an abortion. That proposed amendment needs to pass through the next General Assembly before it goes to the ballot.

“If things do change on the federal level, we must have the life amendment, or abortion will continue to be legal in the state of Iowa,” Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, said.

Nationally, the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on a Mississippi abortion law that could overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade case – a 1973 ruling that Reynolds described as “tragic.”

Sheena Dooley, communications manager of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa, said after the event that Reynolds’ policies “made it harder for Iowans to access family planning services and comprehensive, medically accurate sex education.”

“Restricting abortion takes what should be a private medical decision between a person and their doctor and places it in the hands of politicians who have no medical expertise,” Dooley said. “Regardless of how we individually feel about abortion, we can all agree that each person deserves the right to control their body and their future.”