Iowa lawmakers are pushing forward with a bill to ban abortion after six weeks.
The Iowa House of Representatives and Senate, both of which have a Republican majority, passed the bill on Tuesday night after Gov. Kim Reynolds called for a special session for the “sole purpose” of passing the“pro-life” legislation, perABC NewsandNBC News.
“The Iowa Supreme Court questioned whether this legislature would pass the same law they did in 2018, and today they have a clear answer,” Reynolds said.
She added, “The voices of Iowans and their democratically elected representatives cannot be ignored any longer, and justice for the unborn should not be delayed.”
Reynolds called the special session less than a month after the state’s Supreme Court wasdeadlockedon a similar 2018 law banning abortions after six weeks, and ultimately declined to reinstate it, perAssociated Press. This allowed the state’s current abortion law, which allows women to get an abortion up to 20 weeks in their pregnancy, to stand.
The new legislation would shorten that time period down to six weeks — when fetal cardiac activity is detected, but before many women are aware of their pregnancy.
The bill includes exceptions for medical emergencies and for rape and incest, though they have to be reported to law enforcement or to health entities within a specific amount of time.Per NBC News, rape must be reported to authorities, which a public or private health agency or law enforcement, within 45 days, while incest must be reported within 140 days.
AP Photo/Hannah Fingerhut
If the legislation passes, Iowa will join several other states that have the “heartbeat bill” includingTexas,FloridaandIdaho. However, Iowa could also face legal challenges to passing the legislation like inSouth Carolina, where in January, the state supreme court overturned the ban on abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy, claiming it violates the state’s constitution.
The ACLU of Iowa said it alreadyplans to file a lawsuitin response to the bill, arguing that the exceptions included in the bill “include barriers to care” and that patients’ lives could be “at risk.”
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“The abortion ban the Iowa Legislature passed today is a devastating blow to reproductive freedom,” Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said in the statement.
She added, “This is not the end of our fight for safe and legal abortion and reproductive health care. We will exhaust all options to ensure Iowans have control of their bodily autonomy, now and for generations to come."
source: people.com
