Brad Zaun
Two abortion-related bills have advanced as Iowa lawmakers approach an end-of-week legislative deadline for committee votes.
One bill approved by a Senate panel would require pregnant Iowans to view an ultrasound image and then wait three days to have an abortion. The Iowa Supreme Court struck down a three-day waiting period in 2018, but Republican Senator Brad Zaun says things have changed.
“First of all, we’ve got a new court and I believe in this bill and I can file any bill that I want,” Zaun says.
Two of the five justices who overturned the 2018 law have died and, by this spring, two others will have retired from the court.
Opponents of the bill — like Laura Hessburg with the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence — say it puts up more barriers to abortion access.
“Of course we want women to have information. What we’re saying is women don’t show up without being informed, any more than any of you show up for a medical procedure without being informed,” Hessburg says.
House Republicans also advanced a bill creating new licensing requirements for abortion facilities.
(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Katarina Sostaric)