GOP lawmakers have released the bill they intend to pass tomorrow in a special legislative session that would ban nearly all abortions in Iowa.
The bill is almost identical to the Fetal Heartbeat Act that passed the legislature in 2018. Last month, a three-to-three tie among the Iowa Supreme Court justices kept in place the injunction that has blocked that law from taking effect.
“What we intend to do is just repass the same ‘heartbeat’ bill that we had before,” Senator Dennis Guth, a Republican from Klemme, said, “because that’s going to be the easiest and the fastest to do.”
When Governor Kim Reynolds signed the bill five years ago, it was the toughest anti-abortion policy in the country and would have banned abortions after fetal activity can be detected. That’s around the sixth week of a pregnancy. Guth voted for the bill in 2018. “The legal eagles that have analyzed what the Supreme Court justices said are thinking those Supreme Court justices thought we were just fooling the first time,” Guth said, “so we’re just going to pass the same thing and then they’re going to have to deal with it.”
Senator Dave Rowley of Spirit Lake was first elected to the state senate during a special election in 2021. He indicated tomorrow’s vote will send a message.*
“With the Supreme Court, of course, of Iowa going 3-3 that we had to prove pretty much that the bill was not just hypothetical and was placed into law and signed by the governor,” Rowley said, “and we’ll go through that step again.”
Guth said Republican lawmakers “meant it” the first time and they’ll prove that quickly tomorrow. “In the Senate, we plan on getting done in 24 hours unless the Democrats really throw some big snafus on it,” Guth said. “We’re going to start at 8:30 in the morning and it may take us ’til midnight, but we think we can get it done in one day.”
Mazie Stilwell with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa said polling has shown a growing majority of Iowans support legal abortion.
“We are calling on all Iowans to show up at the Capitol on Tuesday, to be contacting their legislators who work for them,”
Stilwell said. “…Iowans are simply not interested in the ways in which politicians are trying to claw their way into the exam room.”
Planned Parenthood officials say they’ll fight any new abortion restrictions in court. so it’s more than likely the issue will wind up before the Iowa Supreme Court again. Two weeks ago, Planned Parenthood announced they’re closing three of Iowa’s nine Planned Parenthood clinics and will expand abortion services at many remaining locations. Ruth Richardson is president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States: “Should the legislature and the governor fail to listen to Iowans and pass harmful legislation next week, we will continue our expansion plan while we continue to fight to protect access through the courts.”
A public hearing on the bill tomorrow is scheduled to start at 9:30 and last until 11.
( A.J. Taylor of KIOW in Forest City and Katarina Sostaric of Iowa Public Radio contributed to this story.)