QC Times piece on how the Iowa Supreme Court schooled Brainddead
The Quad City Times had a good piece about the hazards of stacking the Iowa Board of Medicine;
In this ruling, like the Iowa Supreme Court’s 2009 opinion affirming gay marriage, the court did not make law. It upheld Iowa’s constitutional protections against laws – or board policies – that squarely discriminate against one class of people.
Iowa’s gay marriage ban singled out homosexuals. Iowa’s Board of Medicine ban singled out a service provided only to women.
Branstad’s board-stacking gambit now has backfired. It resulted in strong, constitutional case law that certainly will be used to attack similar anti-abortion initiatives elsewhere. An analysis by National Law Review published Monday said the Iowa ruling will “strengthen” challenges to those laws in 16 other states that have outlawed telemedicine for reproductive services.
“Iowa is the first state supreme court to find a physical presence law unconstitutional. Since the decision relied in part on federal constitutional law, it can and likely will lead to challenges to other states’ bans on prescription of abortion-inducing drugs via telemedicine. Such challenges will be strengthened by the Iowa Supreme Court’s conclusion that there was no evidence that the physical presence of a doctor is medically necessary.”