Iowa legislature passes six-week abortion ban in special session
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[July 12, 2023]
By Sharon Bernstein and Julia Harte
(Reuters) -Iowa's Republican-controlled legislature passed a bill in a
special session on Tuesday banning abortions as soon as fetal cardiac
activity can be detected, after around six weeks of pregnancy and before
most women know they are pregnant.
The ban is expected to swiftly be signed into law by Republican Governor
Kim Reynolds, who called the special session after the Midwestern
state's Supreme Court on June 16 blocked a similar measure passed in
2018 from going into effect.
State senators passed the bill by 32-17 late Tuesday night, mostly along
party lines, after hours of public comment by lawmakers and Iowans on
both sides of the issue, as abortion rights activists held loud protests
in and around the State Capitol building.
The bill will outlaw abortions with limited exceptions after cardiac
activity can be detected, weeks before the fetus has developed an actual
heart. It makes no exceptions for the age of the pregnant person or any
mental health condition.
Before the final vote, Democratic lawmakers fruitlessly sought to loosen
the bill. State Representative Timi Brown-Powers proposed amending the
bill to grant exceptions for pregnant children aged 12 or under.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jul/12/images/ads/current/graue_sda_042021.png)
"For the love of Pete, that's child abuse," said Brown-Powers. "We're
standing here debating a bill to save babies, but yet we would put a
12-year-old, an 11-year-old, a 10-year-old through this?"
Republican state Representative Shannon Lundgren responded that the bill
allows abortions after six weeks in the case of a medical emergency, and
successfully urged her colleagues to reject the amendment.
Abortions after six weeks would also be allowed in the case of rape,
incest, a fetal abnormality that a doctor reasonably believes is
incompatible with life and in the event that continuing the pregnancy
would create a serious risk of irreversible harm to the woman's body.
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A general view of the Iowa state capitol
in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. February 3, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan
Ernst/File Photo
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The state Senate's Republican president, Amy Sinclair, also
highlighted the bill's exceptions on Tuesday, and said the law would
protect mothers as much as unborn fetuses.
"This bill does not hold a woman criminally or civilly liable for
having an abortion," she said.
Iowa's 2018 ban on abortions after about six weeks was put on hold
by the courts while Roe v. Wade and similar state constitutional
protections were in effect, but both have now been reversed.
Iowa's highest court had deadlocked in the 3-3 decision in June,
leaving abortion legal in Iowa for up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
However, the three judges who opposed reinstating the 2018 law said
they were doing so to avoid legislating from the bench, leading
Republican lawmakers to believe they have a good chance of beating
future challenges by passing a new law now.
Fourteen states have banned most abortions since the U.S. Supreme
Court in June 2022 overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case and
stripped away a nationwide right to abortion.
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa asked abortion rights
supporters to contact their legislators, sign up to speak against
the bill and rally against the measure at Tuesday's session.
The Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition advocacy group also asked its
members to contact their lawmakers to support the bill.
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein and Julia Harte; Editing by Colleen
Jenkins and Jonathan Oatis)
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