Iowa Gov. Seeks to Expand Protection of Unborn by Reviving ‘Heartbeat’ Abortion Ban

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber at the Iowa state Capitol in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 10, 2023. (Kelsey Kremer/The Des Moines Register via AP, File)

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has called a special legislative session to look at the possibility of reviving a ban on abortion after the detection of an unborn baby’s heartbeat.

“Iowans deserve to have their legislative body address the issue of abortion expeditiously, and all unborn children deserve to have their lives protected by the government as the fetal heartbeat law did,” Reynolds wrote in an order that indicates lawmakers will meet on July 11 to address the matter of reimposing the restriction on abortion.

Reynolds’ move follows a split 3-3 decision by the state Supreme Court in June that declined to reimpose the roughly six-week abortion ban that Reynolds has long championed.

‘Immoral to Stop an Innocent Beating Heart’

In 2018, Gov. Reynolds signed into law a bill (pdf) that passed along party lines to bolster protections for the unborn by raising the threshold for a legal abortion from 20 weeks to when a fetal heartbeat is detected, or roughly around six weeks.

“I understand that not everyone will agree with this decision,” Gov. Reynolds said in a statement after signing the bill in 2018. “But if death is determined when a heart stops beating, then doesn’t a beating heart indicate life? For me, it is immoral to stop an innocent beating heart.”

Critics of the law—which included exceptions for medical emergencies, rape, incest, and fetal abnormality—argued that the six-week deadline prohibited abortions before many women realized they were pregnant.

Several pro-abortion groups sued to block the law, and, in 2019, a district court nullified the six-week abortion ban, with a Polk County District Court judge ruling that it was unconstitutional based on state and federal law.

The case was taken up last year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending federal protection of the procedure.

Then in 2022, the Iowa Supreme Court reversed an opinion that said the state constitution affirms the right to abortion, with Reynolds working through state courts to revive the 2018 ban.

“That’s why I’ve fought so hard in the courts to make sure that this legislative body can do what it so clearly has the power to do: protect the unborn,” Gov. Reynolds said in a January 2023 “Condition of the State” speech.

However, after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled last month to leave the existing 20-week limit on abortions in place, Gov. Reynolds set out to push for a more restrictive measure on the legislative path.

“Iowans have elected representatives willing to stand up for the rights of the unborn and, in doing so, they have voted strongly in support of pro-life principles and against the arbitrary destruction of innocent, defenseless lives,” Gov. Reynolds said Wednesday.

Reactions

Reynolds’ announcement drew mixed reactions, with conservatives hailing the decision while Democrats in the Legislature and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa issued critical statements.

“We will always encourage and advocate toward the day when all innocent life is cherished and protected by law, from conception to natural death. But at minimum, we want to see Heartbeat repassed,” Drew Zahn, a spokesperson for the conservative Christian group The Family Leader, said in a written statement.

By contrast, Iowa state Sen. Molly Donahue, a Democrat, took to social media in opposition to Gov. Reynolds’ move, which she labeled as “extreme.”

“Women should have autonomy over their own bodies and healthcare choices. The governor should not be making those decisions for anyone,” she said in a tweet.

In a video accompanying her post, Donahue urged protesters to come to the legislature on July 11 to demonstrate their opposition.

Pro-abortion group Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa took to Twitter to denounce Gov. Reynolds’ move as “tyrannical.”

“Let’s be clear: special sessions are rare, and calling for one to push a political agenda is unprecedented. This is a tyrannical overreach from power-hungry politicians,” the group wrote in a post.

Like Donahue, Planned Parenthood urged people to show up at the state Capitol.

“We will fight every step of the way to keep abortion legal in Iowa,” the group said in a statement.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade last year, most Republican-led states have significantly curbed abortion access while left-leaning states have rushed to codify protections for women seeking abortions.

Lawsuits in a number of states have left the legal parameters of abortion in limbo.

In Florida, for instance, a six-week abortion limit that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in April can’t take effect until the state’s Supreme Court rules on an embattled 15-week restriction that lawmakers passed last year.

Similarly, South Carolina’s six-week limit has been temporarily blocked pending a review from the state’s Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, a recent analysis (pdf) of abortion data conducted by the pro-abortion Society of Family Planning found that more than 25,000 fewer abortions were performed in the country from July 2022 to March 2023 than had been expected.

This suggests that the decrease in the number of abortions performed in the United States over the past year may be a result of Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and let states determine abortion policies.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.