DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to let its blocked abortion law go into effect and uphold it altogether, disputing abortion providers’ claims it infringes on women’s rights to exercise bodily autonomy. The law, which bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant, was in effect for a few days last July. A district court judge soon after put it on pause for the courts to assess its constitutionality. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds appealed...

Iowa’s Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday in a case that could decide the future of abortion in that state, the latest in a series of legal battles that threaten abortion access across the country during a historic election year. At issue is a ban passed by the legislature last July that restricts the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, the point when fetal cardiac activity can be detected. Planned Parenthood and others immediately sued to block the law and won a preliminary injunction from a lower court. During the...