Bill’s potential impact on fertility treatments debated by Iowa lawmakers

DES MOINES — The potential legal impact of a legislative proposal to increase penalties for the nonconsensual termination of a pregnancy was the source of debate among state lawmakers Thursday at the Iowa Capitol.

Republicans who proposed the bill said it merely heightens penalties for individuals whose actions cause a pregnancy to be terminated.

Currently, nonconsensual termination of a pregnancy is a felony — punished at different levels depending upon the circumstances under which the pregnancy was terminated. The bill increases those penalties to higher felony levels.

“This bill is very simple. It increases penalties for crimes that are ridiculous, killing a mother and or her unborn baby,” Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, said during debate.

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However, the bill also replaces in state law the terms “human pregnancy” with “unborn person,” and defines an “unborn person” as “from fertilization to live birth.” That is the provision that led Democrats to argue the bill could be legally applied to make in vitro fertilization illegal.

In vitro fertilization is a fertility treatment by which a woman’s egg is combined with a man’s sperm in a medical lab, and then planting those embryos in the women’s uterus. The Mayo Clinic says it is the most effective fertility treatment.

Democrats argued the proposed legislation could make IVF illegal because as part of the process, extra embryos are sometimes frozen, stored or discarded. They argued the bill does not sufficiently exempt fertility treatments.

“As written, this bill does not explicitly protect IVF and sets a precedent with new language of ‘unborn person,’” Rep. Heather Matson, a Democrat from Ankeny, said during debate. “For years many of us have made the case that legislation or judicial rulings for fetal personhood would potentially make IVF illegal.”

Democrats referred to a recent decision by the Alabama Supreme Court, which ruled that frozen embryos are children regardless of whether they are in or out of a uterus. Clinics in Alabama paused some of their services in the wake of the ruling. That state’s Republican governor signed a hastily passed bill Wednesday aimed at protecting IVF patients and providers there from legal liability.

Mazie Stilwell, public affairs director for the political arm of the women’s reproductive health care and abortion services provider Planned Parenthood, issued a statement criticizing the bill as “reckless” and Republicans for advancing it instead of tackling other health care issues.

“Republicans who control our state government want to continue their far-reaching, long-term strategy to undermine the rights and well-being of pregnant Iowans,” Stilwell’s statement said. “We will fight every step of the way to ensure Iowans have access to the essential health care they so desperately need.”

The bill, House File 2575, passed out of the Iowa House on a 58-36 vote, with only Republicans supporting and three Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition. The Republican “no” votes came from Reps. Mark Cisneros of Muscatine, Zach Dieken of Granville and Brian Lohse of Bondurant.

With its passage out of the House, the bill is now eligible for consideration in the Iowa Senate.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com