DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Iowas high court refused Friday to unblock a strict ban on most abortions, rebuffing Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and, for now, keeping the conservative state from joining others that have severely limited access to the procedure.

The decision to uphold a 2019 district court ruling that blocked the law comes roughly a year after the same body and the U.S. Supreme Court determined that women do not have a fundamental constitutional right to abortion.

The blocked law bans abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant.

While the states high court maintains the block on the law, it does not preclude Reynolds and lawmakers from passing a new law that looks the same. The decision Friday was largely procedural the 2022 appeal to the 2019 ruling was too late.

Abortions remain legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Most Republican-led states have severely curtailed access to abortion in the year since the U.S. Supreme Court stripped womens constitutional right to abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade and handing authority over the issue to states.