Governor Kim Reynolds has signed a bill into law that will ban most abortions in Iowa.
“Today the most glaring injustice of all is about to be put right,” Reynolds said this afternoon.
Reynolds signed the bill on stage at The Family Leader’s summit in Des Moines. The crowd of 2000 evangelical Christians at the event stood as she put her signature on the document and cheered her along with the Republican lawmakers who joined her on stage.
“As we gather here today at this very moment, the abortion industry is in the court trying to prevent this law from taking effect and stop, once again the will of the people,” Reynolds said, “but the passage of this legislation by even a wider margin this time sends an unmistakable message.”
The Republican-led legislature passed the bill Tuesday during a special session and it’s almost identical to the Fetal Heartbeat Act Reynolds signed in 2018, but was never enforced due to a court injunction. Last month’s three-to-three tie on the Iowa Supreme Court kept that injunction in place. Reynolds criticized the three justices who rejected her call to let that 2018 law take effect.
“Iowa’s 2018 Heartbeat Law was not hypothetical. It was not an empty gesture and it was not a mistake. It was an ironclad commitment to the smallest and most vulnerable among us,” Reynolds said. “All life is precious and worthy of the protection of our laws.”
The legislation bans most abortions after about the sixth week of a pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest and certain medical conditions. Tony Angran, pastor of the Solid Rod Church of God in Centerville, is thrilled. “It was awesome. That’s awesome,” Angran said. “We worked for that and we prayed for that.”
Earlier this afternoon, an attorney for two Iowa abortion providers asked a judge to at least temporarily block the law from going into effect. An attorney for Planned Parenthood Federation of American said abortion is time sensitive care and even small delays can be significant for patients. An attorney for the State of Iowa said that ignores the unborn patient and a 2022 Iowa Supreme Court ruling that said the state constitution does not guarantee a right to an abortion.
The judge who heard the arguments today said the issue is too important to make a ruling today, but indicated he hopes to do so on Monday.