The people of Iowa have spoken. In a Des Moines Register poll last fall 61% of Iowas said abortion should be legal in all or most cases. So… both chambers of the state legislature voted overwhelmingly to ignore them and make abortion illegal after 6 weeks. Currently, abortion is banned after 20 weeks.
On Tuesday night, in a special session called by the governor, Republicans in the Iowa House celebrated a 56-34 vote victory over most Iowans. The bill then passed the Iowa Senate the following night with a 32-17 vote, almost entirely along party lines. It’s basically the same bill that the state Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional in 2018. Gov. Reynolds plans to sign the bill tomorrow at the Family Leadership Summit, in front of an audience of conservative Christians. Several Republican presidential candidates are also slated to speak at the summit.
The Register wanted to make sure all their readers know how their own legislators voted. In the House, every Democrat voted against the bill. Among the Republicans, 56 voted in favor and two voted with the Democrats in opposition, Mark Cisneros (Muscatine) and Zach Dieken (Granville), both of whom wanted an even tougher bill. 6 Republicans and 4 Democrats skipped out on the vote.
In the state Senate, all the Dems + one Republican, Mike Klimesh (Winneshiek County) voted no, 32 Republicans voted for it and one Republican, Kevin Alons (Woodbury County), avoided voting.
Iowa abortion providers have already filed a lawsuit challenging the ban. Medical professionals say it's misleading to call those early electric pulses a "fetal heartbeat," as the embryo is not yet a fetus, and the cells that will become a heart do not yet move blood.
House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst (D-Windsor Heights) told reporters following the vote that "Iowa women have fewer rights to make their own bodily decisions" because of Republicans and that "we're not going to let them get away with it. There are 483 days until Election Day 2024 and there won’t be a day that Iowa House Democrats aren’t reminding voters that Republicans took away their rights and acted against the will of more than half of Iowa voters.”
The Des Moines Register reported on what the exceptions are:
For rape, if the rape is reported to law enforcement or to a public health agency or doctor within 45 days.
If the pregnancy is the result of incest, if the incest is reported to law enforcement or a public health agency or doctor within 140 days.
If "the attending physician certifies that the fetus has a fetal abnormality that in the physician's reasonable medical judgment is incompatible with life."
For a miscarriage "if not all of the products of conception are expelled."
For a "medical emergency," defined as "a situation in which an abortion is performed to preserve the life of the pregnant woman whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy" or when continuing the pregnancy "will create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”