Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds asked the state courts on Thursday to allow her to implement a law banning most abortions that a judge permanently blocked in 2019.
Reynolds previously said she would turn to the courts instead of calling a special session to hold a divisive abortion debate and vote just months before she and several other Republican leaders run for reelection. The court filing is just the first step in a legal battle that could take months to resolve and end up before the Iowa Supreme Court again.
The 2018 law bans abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. An Iowa law banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy remains in effect while Reynolds pursues the tougher ban in court.
Reynolds' lawyers argue that since the U.S. Supreme Court and the Iowa Supreme Court have now removed broad constitutional protections for abortion rights, the previous order should be removed and the law enforced.
"The historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe has given us a new hope and pathway forward to challenge the Iowa court's previous decision," Reynolds said in a statement. "Life and death are determined by a person's heartbeat, and I believe that includes our unborn children."
Laws such as Iowa's ban abortion when a "fetal heartbeat" can be detected, though that does not easily translate to medical science. That's because at the point where advanced technology can detect that first visual flutter, the embryo isn't yet a fetus, and it doesn't have a heart. An embryo is termed a fetus eight weeks after fertilization.
Iowa's law contains exceptions for medical emergencies including threats to the mother's life, rape, incest, and fetal abnormality.
Iowa House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst said Reynolds is circumventing the will of the people in a state where polls have shown most people support abortion rights. A poll published last month by the Des Moines Register indicated 60 per cent of Iowa residents believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases.
"This is the opposite of what Iowans are telling us they want," Konfrst said. "This is way extreme. We've seen voters across the country reject this and because the governor knows voters would reject this here in Iowa, she's playing politics."
Iowa's high court in June overturned a previous ruling that guaranteed the right to abortion under the state constitution, acting just one week before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Reynolds' lawyers said the state Supreme Court "can and should dissolve the injunction permanently right now because no additional factual development is needed to establish that there has been a 'substantial change' in the law."
The law was successfully challenged by abortion provider Planned Parenthood and lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa. They said they plan to continue to fight Reynolds' efforts in the state.
"This is an outrageous and dangerous attack on Iowa women looking to take away practically all access to abortion in our state," said ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen. "We will continue to do everything in our power to stop attempts at banning abortion in Iowa."
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
King Charles III’s doctors are 'sufficiently pleased' with his cancer treatment and he is expected to return to public-facing duties, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday.
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
The current overall public health risk posed by the H5N1 bird flu virus is low, the World Health Organization said on Friday, but urged countries to stay alert for cases of animal-to-human transmission.
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
An idyllic 453-acre private island is up for sale off the west coast of Scotland and it comes with sandy beaches, puffins galore, seven houses, a pub, a helipad and a flock of black-faced sheep.
An investigation is underway after a Regina police officer was accidentally shot by a fellow officer’s gun during the search of a house early Friday morning.
A pair of Montreal designers' work has now been viewed over 41 million times. Taylor Swift dons a Victorian throwback black gown in her latest music video, 'Fortnight', designed by UNTTLD due Simon Belanger and Jose Manuel Saint-Jacques.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.