Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds took to the stage at the FAMiLY Leadership Summit earlier today to sign a new fetal heartbeat bill into law. This new law will be one of the strictest pro-life laws in the nation and will ban abortion after 6 weeks.
Earlier this week, the bill was passed in a late night special session and went into effect immediately following her signature today. The previous law allowed abortions up to 20 weeks after conception.
The law will ban a vast majority of abortions but will allow limited exceptions after cardiac activity is detected, including in case of rape, incest or to preserve the life of the mother.
According to the Des Moines Register “An abortion may also be performed in a “medical emergency,” if a doctor determines that the procedure is necessary to save the life of the pregnant person. Abortion is also permitted if continuing the pregnancy would result in the “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.”
The bill also allows physicians to perform an abortion if the fetus has fatal abnormalities, or if medical assistance is necessary to complete a miscarriage.
“This bill protects unborn children in Iowa,” said Rep. Shannon Lundgren, R-Peosta. “This bill sets a clear standard where the state has an interest in the life of the child: when the baby’s heart starts beating. Where there is a heartbeat, there is life.”
Iowa now joins more than a dozen states that have abortion bans with limited exceptions since the overturning of Roe V Wade.
