(ReclaimingAmerica.net) – Iowa’s legislature has passed landmark legislation banning abortion beyond the sixth week of pregnancy, adding another state “heartbeat law” to the tally of the pro-life movement.
Both chambers of the Iowa legislature passed the abortion ban bill on Tuesday, with the second vote – at the state senate – sending it to the desk of Republican Governor Kim Reynolds, who had already made it clear she would sign it.
“Tonight the Iowa legislature has passed — for a second time and by wider margins — legislation to protect life and end abortion at a heartbeat,” the governor wrote on Twitter after the senate vote Tuesday night.
“The voices of the unborn and their elected representatives will not be silenced any longer! Congrats to the Iowa House and Senate!” she added.
Iowa’s previous law banned abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, with a 22-week exception after a menstrual period.
After the bill was passed, Republican state Rep. Shannon Lundgren declared it “protects unborn children in Iowa,” as cited by The National Review.
“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,” she tweeted.
The voting for Iowa’s heartbeat law was marred by heated verbal exchanges between abortionist protesters and pro-life activists in the rotunda of the Iowa General Assembly.
The former raised slogans such as “Abortion Access For All,” “Reproductive Freedom Voter,” “Abortion is Normal,” and “No Forced Births.”
“They’re going to see why they’re wrong. We’re doing this in the summer because they want us to forget. We’re going to fight like hell today. We will show up. We will stand up. And I need you all in this fight,” Democrat state Rep. Jennifer Konfrst told the leftist crowd.
“Democrats would lead differently. We would make sure that a full spectrum of reproductive health care is available for Iowa women,” another state house Democrat, Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, told The Des Moines Register.
Ruth Richardson, the CEO of the local Planned Parenthood chapter, told the news outlet the abortionist group would most likely challenge Iowa’s heartbeat law in court.
Late Tuesday evening, the Iowa senate passed a bill that would prohibit abortion beyond six weeks of pregnancy. https://t.co/OImhUiPGcG
— National Review (@NRO) July 12, 2023
