Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds Will Sign Heartbeat Bill Friday to Protect Babies From Abortions
After the Iowa legislature passed the heartbeat bill to protect babies from abortions, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds celebrated the pro-life measure and announced she will sign the bill into law on Friday.
“Today, the Iowa legislature once again voted to protect life and end abortion at a heartbeat, with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother,” Governor Reynolds said in a statement LifeNews received after the bill passed.
The governor said babies need protection from abortion as quickly as possible, which is why she is signing the legislation his week.
“The Iowa Supreme Court questioned whether this legislature would pass the same law they did in 2018, and today they have a clear answer. The voices of Iowans and their democratically elected representatives cannot be ignored any longer, and justice for the unborn should not be delayed,” Reynolds said.
She added: “As a pro-life Governor, I am also committed to continuing policies to support women in planning for motherhood, promote the importance of fatherhood, and encourage strong families. Our state and country will be stronger because of it.”
Abortion activists are expected to file a lawsuit against the heartbeat law and, if the Iowa Supreme Court upholds the legislation, Iowa would become the 17th state to protect babies either starting at conception or when their heartbeat can be detected at 6 weeks. Another 4 states protect babies starting at 12 or 15 weeks.
The state’s Senate passed a bill late Tuesday in a 32 to 17 vote and the state House voted 56-34 largely along party lines to advance the measure. In the House, every Democrat voted against the pro-life bill while every Republican in favor except Reps. Mark Cisneros, R-Muscatine, and Zach Dieken, R-Granville. Ten representatives were absent. On the Senate side, one Republican, Sen. Mike Klimesh, voted against the bill, as did all Democrats. All other Republicans voted in favor of the bill. One senator was absent.
The bill includes exceptions for miscarriages, when the life of the pregnant woman is threatened and fetal abnormalities that would result in the infant’s death. It also includes exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rapes reported within 45 days and incest reported within 140 days.
Maggie DeWitt of the Iowa pro-life group Pule Life Advocates told LifeNews she was excited by the bill’s passage.
“Today is a monumental day in Iowa. The Heartbeat bill has passed in both chambers and will go to Governor Reynolds for her signature,” she said. “Thank you Governor Reynolds for calling this special session and for our pro-life legislature for acting quickly. We have been waiting since 2018 when our first heartbeat bill was signed into law for Iowa to move forward in protecting the most vulnerable of our society.”
“The day started with a public hearing and ended with debate in both chambers and passage of this bill,” she added. “We are now a step closer to providing equal protection under the law for our pre-born brothers and sisters. And we look forward to the day when all life is valued.”
ACTION ALERT: Contact Iowa lawmakers to thanks Republicans for voting for the heartbeat bill.
Leading pro-life groups hailed passage of the pro-life measure.
“We thank Governor Kim Reynolds and the pro-life members of the Iowa legislature who are champions for the right to life,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “We also thank our affiliate Iowa Right to Life as well as pro-life people across the state of Iowa for their commitment and hard work toward protecting unborn children.”
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s Western Regional Director Adam Schwend praised Iowa lawmakers: “Iowans recognize the humanity of unborn children with beating hearts and won’t rest until they are protected. We thank the legislature for acting swiftly on the will of the people. We’re especially grateful to Gov. Reynolds for calling this special session and her tireless leadership in the fight for life over the years. These protections will save lives. We thank all our allies, including Sens. Amy Sinclair and Jack Whitver, Speaker Pat Grassley, and Reps. Shannon Lundgren and Matt Windschitl, who persisted to get this vital bill across the finish line and we eagerly await Gov. Reynolds signing it into law.”
The bill also makes it clear that it is abortionists who are punished for killing babies not women: the new law is “not to be construed to impose civil or criminal liability on a woman upon whom an abortion is performed in violation of the division.” And the Iowa Board of Medicine will determine how abortionists are disciplined.
The governor’s call came after the Iowa Supreme Court, on a narrow 3-3 decision, struck down a law the legislature passed before the Dobbs case that would protect the lives of unborn babies who have a detectable heartbeat. The state court’s decision set forth parameters that the legislature could use to pass a new heartbeat law that would be found constitutional and add Iowa to the list of states providing legal protection for unborn children.
“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,” Reynolds said Wednesday.
Abortion is curently legal up to 20 weeks in Iowa and the new bill would drop that to 6 weeks, when a baby’s heartbeat can be heard on a sonogram.
The current draft of the bill, which may be amended before a vote, includes exceptions for medical emergencies, rape, incest and fetal abnormality.
While Planned Parenthood and other abortion activists are expected to protest the legislation, the measure is expected to pass easily in the Republican controlled legislature. But the abortion business is expected to file another suit against the pro-life law once Governor Reynolds signs it in a desperate attempt to continue profiting from killing babies in abortions.
Reynolds’ office challenged a 2019 Iowa Supreme Court ruling that blocked the law, which protects unborn babies by prohibiting most abortions once an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable, about six weeks of pregnancy. She hoped the state’s highest court would overturn its previous decision blocking the law in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs allowing states to protect babies from abortions.
Instead, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld a 2019 district court ruling that blocked the law. The court has seven members but one justice declined to participate because her former law firm had represented an abortionist.
Justice Thomas Waterman wrote for the three justices who voted to block the pro-life law.
“In our view it is legislating from the bench to take a statute that was moribund when it was enacted and has been enjoined for four years and then to put it in effect,” he said.
The ruling means Iowa will need to pass a new law protecting babies from abortions. That would be more likely to be upheld after the Dobbs ruling and the Iowa Supreme Court decision confirming there is no right to an abortion.
Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Chris Schandevel confirmed that the ruling means Iowa can pass a new heartbeat law protecting babies that might be upheld.
“States have the strongest possible interest in protecting the most fundamental of our human rights—the right to life. Iowans are eager to affirm that life is a human right, which is why the legislature passed the fetal heartbeat law five years ago,” he explained.
“Iowans will surely be disappointed by today’s result, and rightly so. But even the three justices who voted against Iowa’s fetal heartbeat law agreed that the same law, passed again today, might finally be allowed to take effect,’ he told LifeNews. “It is time for the Iowa Legislature to act—once again—to protect life. The legislature should redouble its life-saving efforts to enshrine into law further protections for unborn children. Iowa women deserve the dignity and respect that comes from receiving life-affirming health care—not the abortion industry’s false choice between doing what’s best for the mother and protecting the life of her child.”
“The overturning of Roe v. Wade last year was just the beginning,” Reynolds said. “And since then, we’ve seen some in our movement concede ground to abortion extremists. Not in Iowa and not on my watch.”
She said a child’s right to life is “the most important freedom of all.”
“I will always be front and center in this fight,” Reynolds said. “I will not rest until Iowa’s courts allow the will of the people to finally take effect, until every unborn child has the chance to experience the greatest gift that our Lord endowed upon us: life.”
In 2020, 4,058 abortions were reported in the state, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in a historic victory for life and returned the power to legislate abortion to the people. Because of Dobbs v. Jackson, states may protect unborn babies from abortion for the first time in nearly 50 years.
ACTION ALERT: Contact Iowa lawmakers to thanks Republicans for voting for the heartbeat bill.
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