Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Kristine Phillips.
Iowa’s predominantly Republican legislature passed the bill earlier this week, sending it to Reynolds, who who once said that abortion is “equivalent to murder.”
What is the ‘heartbeat’ bill?
The “heartbeat” bill would ban abortions as early as six weeks, which is around the time women generally feel early signs of pregnancy. Many women don’t even realize they’re pregnant around this time.
The bill would require women seeking an abortion to first have an ultrasound, at which time a physician will detect if there’s a heartbeat. The bill also would prohibit someone from acquiring, providing, receiving, transferring or using a fetal body part in Iowa. A violator could face a Class C felony.
The bill could face a legal challenge
The “heartbeat” bill resembles similar legislation passed in other Republican-led states.
The governors of Mississippi and Kentucky recently signed into law bills that ban abortion after 15 weeks and after 11 weeks, respectively. Federal judges have temporarily blocked those bills. But, as The Washington Post’s Mary Jordan wrote last month, these antiabortion bills are meant to set up legal challenges that would take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court and ultimately overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that legalized abortion nationally.
Republicans are banking on an opportunity for President Trump to nominate a conservative judge who could help overturn the 1973 ruling. Centrist Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, 81, is said to be considering retirement. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Bayer, two of the court’s liberals, are 85 and 79, respectively.
According to the Des Moines Register, Iowa Republicans said during a debate Tuesday night that they hope the law faces a legal challenge, so that it can advance to the Supreme Court. The paper also reported that exceptions in cases of rape and incest were added to the bill before the Senate passed it Wednesday morning.
Planned Parenthood Voters of Iowa has already predicted an “expensive, lengthy legal battle.”
“Today’s actions to ban abortion are an embarrassment to Iowa and they will remain a blemish on our state for the foreseeable future, serving as one more reminder that Iowa’s leadership does not value health care,” the organization said in a statement Wednesday.
