IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Iowa is not among the states that have so-called "trigger laws" that could be enacted if the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade. However, the abortion issue is far from settled in the Hawkeye State.

In recent years, state Republicans have tried to enact tighter abortion restrictions, but those efforts were blocked by legal decisions tied to a 2018 Iowa Supreme Court ruling.

Despite those outcomes, GOP lawmakers hope a state constitutional amendment will give them more flexibility, if adopted.

Alice Wang, staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in many parts of the country, there is a galvanized effort right now to dismantle core protections under Roe.

"The national landscape for abortion access is, frankly, really dire," Wang asserted. "The real-world harms are staggering."

Wang recently took part in a discussion led by the Iowa Center for Human Rights. She noted Texas' new abortion restrictions, and the backlog they've created in other states. Aside from Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court soon will hear a similar case from Mississippi.

In Iowa, the amendment seeks to overturn the state's high-court ruling, but needs to clear hurdles, including going before voters in 2024. Backers, such as Gov. Kim Reynolds, say they are protecting the dignity of human life.

A recent Des Moines Register poll found a majority of Iowans saying abortion should be legal in most cases.

Pete McRoberts, policy director for the ACLU-Iowa, said that does not mean policy efforts will go away. He argued if the proposed amendment is ultimately successful, it would be a game-changer.

"Let's not kid ourselves, if an amendment to the Iowa constitution is enacted that states 'There is no right to an abortion in Iowa,' that's the thing we've been worried about," McRoberts explained.

The constitutional amendment cleared the Legislature during this year's spring session. Republican lawmakers have insisted even if it wins final approval, it does not prevent a woman's right to choose, but McRoberts argued the plan's language makes it clear the right would be taken away.

FRANKFORT, Ky. - U.S. Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments Tuesday in a case involving a 2018 Kentucky abortion law that bans a medical abortion method used after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Kentucky law later was struck down as unconstitutional.

Attorney Heather Gatnarek with the ACLU of Kentucky said the issue before the court involves the role of the state's Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron.

"The issue before the Supreme Court," she said, "is very specifically about that procedural question: Should the attorney general have been allowed to intervene at such a late stage, after the courts had already struck down the law twice? Or did the Sixth Circuit get it right and he shouldn't have been allowed to intervene?"

The legislation made it a crime for doctors to use a second-trimester procedure known as "dilation and evacuation." The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals permanently blocked the law from going into effect last summer. Abortion-rights advocates nationwide are closely watching the outcome of the Kentucky case, after national protests over the Supreme Court's recent decision to allow a six-week abortion ban to go into effect in Texas.

Gatnarek noted that if Kentucky's 2018 law were to go into effect, it effectively would prevent many patients from ending a pregnancy. She emphasized that a pregnant person in her third trimester still can access reproductive health care in the Commonwealth.

"That procedure is still available in Kentucky," she said. "The ban has not gone into effect, so the abortion providers are able to provide that second-trimester care."

Gatnarek added that the Kentucky law is one of many ways politicians and anti-choice groups have tried to curtail abortion access. She said this year alone, state lawmakers nationwide have attempted to pass more than 100 new restrictions.

"We're seeing these laws over and over, copycat laws that pop up in states around the country," she said. "Groups like ours then have to sue to prevent them from going into effect."

The Supreme Court also is scheduled to hear arguments in December about a Mississippi law that bans abortions entirely after 15 weeks. Experts have said that case potentially could challenge the constitutionality of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

ST. LOUIS -- As the new U.S. Supreme Court session gears up, a new report found more than 36 million women in 26 states, including Missouri, could lose access to abortions if the court overturns Roe v. Wade.

Missouri has only one clinic where abortions are performed, the result of laws that, for instance, require providers to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, although research shows there's no medical need for such permission.

Yamelsie Rodríguez, president and CEO of reproductive health services for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, helps run the last clinic.

"We often feel we're providing abortion services on borrowed time," Rodríguez remarked. "A web of medically unnecessary laws make abortion inaccessible, especially for people of color, people with low incomes and people who live in rural communities."

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a case regarding a Texas ban on abortions after six weeks, the nation's most restrictive abortion law. The court plans to hear a case this session on a Mississippi 15-week ban, which, if upheld, would overturn the 1973 landmark Roe decision.

Missouri is one of many states with what's known as an abortion "trigger law," meaning it is crafted to go into effect if there is a change in court precedent. Rodríguez added without the Roe decision, it's estimated thousands of Missouri women will have to turn to nearby states, like Illinois, where the right to end a pregnancy is protected by state law.

"In fact, this is already happening, even under Roe," Rodríguez observed. "As we speak, the Texas abortion ban is wrecking havoc on abortion care throughout the South and Midwest. It is a devastating ripple effect that underscores that this is just not a Texas problem."

Recent polls show nearly seven in ten Americans support the decision that established a pregnant person's right to an abortion. Rodríguez believes the nation must change course if it wants to keep up with global advancements in health equity.

She noted there are moves to decriminalize abortion in other countries, including Chile, Argentina, and Mexico.

CHICAGO -- Reproductive-rights advocates took to the streets across Illinois and the U.S. over the weekend to protest the new Texas law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, the nation's most restrictive abortion law. It is one of 90 anti-abortion bills that have been passed by state legislatures.

Brigid Leahy, senior director of public policy for Planned Parenthood Illinois, said they already are seeing Texas patients fleeing the ban and traveling long distances to get care.

"It's over 1,000 miles to get to Illinois, but people are doing that," Leahy reported. "And there are people who cannot travel. The barriers are just too much, and they are being forced to continue pregnancies that they do not want to continue."

The events -- 600 total nationwide -- came days before today's start of the U.S. Supreme Court session, during which judges plan to hear a case concerning a 15-week Mississippi abortion law, which, if upheld, could overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Leahy noted when former President Donald Trump took office and promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who would be amenable to overturning Roe v. Wade, Illinois lawmakers began working on bills to protect the right to abortion at the state level, such as the Reproductive Health Act of 2019.

She pointed out many states are taking similar steps, but many others are now going the other way, including many Midwestern states.

"It was really important to recognize the full range of those rights and put them in our state law so that when Roe v Wade falls, we are protected in Illinois, not just for the people in Illinois, but the people in the states surrounding us," Leahy contended.

Polls show nearly 7 in 10 Americans support the decision establishing a woman's right to an abortion, and more than 900 state lawmakers from 45 states recently signed a letter urging the Supreme Court to uphold Roe v. Wade in their decision on the Mississippi law.