Iowa Gov. Reynolds calls for special legislative session to craft new abortion restrictions

DES MOINES — Abortion access in Iowa would be restricted under legislation that statehouse Republicans plan to craft next week during a special session of the Iowa Legislature, called for Wednesday by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The special session will take place Tuesday at the Iowa Capitol.

The special session will be conducted “with the sole purpose of enacting legislation that addresses abortion and protects unborn lives,” the governor’s news release said.

Three Iowa House Republican lawmakers — Reps. Megan Jones, R-Sioux Rapids; Norlin Mommsen, R-De Witt; and Luana Stoltenberg, R-Davenport — told The Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau they expect Republicans once again will pass legislation that would ban abortions once a fetus’ heartbeat can be detected.

Currently, abortion in Iowa is legal until the 20th week of pregnancy.

According to a 2023 Iowa Poll, more than three out of every five Iowans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

Reynolds and Iowa Republicans passed a so-called fetal heartbeat bill in 2018, but it was struck down by the state courts. After separate rulings by the Iowa and U.S. Supreme Courts in 2022, Reynolds appealed the state courts’ ruling on the 2018 fetal heartbeat bill. But that ruling was left in place when, last month, the Iowa Supreme Court delivered a split decision on Reynolds’ request.

“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 in a news release, also asserting that the Iowa Supreme Court’s split ruling “disregards the will of Iowa voters and lawmakers.”

Although they do not hold enough seats to stop any legislative action, statehouse Democrats have said consistently that they will oppose any attempts to further restrict abortion access in Iowa.

“We knew this would happen. Republican extremists, led by Gov. Kim Reynolds, are rushing to take away Iowans’ established rights and personal freedoms. And they hope they can do it fast enough that Iowans won’t even notice,” Iowa Sen. Pam Jochum, leader of the minority-party Senate Democrats from Dubuque, said in a statement. “Now is the time for Iowans to fight back against an extreme abortion ban that will cost women their lives as well as their freedom. Iowans see how abortion bans have caused heartbreak, complications, and death in other states. We won’t stand for it here.”

Supporters of so-called fetal heartbeat laws say they ban abortions roughly around the sixth week of pregnancy, which often is before a person is aware they are pregnant. Abortion rights advocates say such a prohibition would end 98 percent of the now-legal abortions in Iowa.

However, some major medical organizations, like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, note that what is detected at six weeks is not a heartbeat, but instead electrical impulses, and that an actual heartbeat does not occur until roughly 17 to 20 weeks of pregnancy.

History of special sessions in Iowa

This will be the 24th year with a special session of the Iowa Legislature, according to state records. But it will be just the 10th since 1970, when the Iowa Legislature went from meeting every other year to meeting annually.

Iowa legislators held a one-day special session in 2021 to finish the state’s decennial redrawing of legislative maps. Prior to that, the most recent special session of the Iowa Legislature was in 2006, when state lawmakers met to override a gubernatorial veto of eminent domain legislation.

Legislators will be paid $175 per day for the special session, and receive daily expense reimbursements of $131.25 for Polk County legislators and $175 for legislators from all other counties.

Abortion access opponents, advocates react

Maggie DeWitte, executive director of the anti-abortion group Pulse Life Advocates, said she’s thankful Reynolds and Republicans responded to calls to act quickly on new abortion restrictions, which she called a life and death issue.

DeWitte said she and Pulse Life Advocates want to see a total abortion ban, from the moment of conception with limited exceptions, but she would support lawmakers if they passed a bill similar to the six-week “fetal heartbeat” abortion ban.

“We are going to support them in any efforts to save innocent lives, fellow Iowans,” she said. “And so we would support them if they want to move forward with another heartbeat law and see that law passed to demonstrate our serious intent to save innocent lives.”

Planned Parenthood, a reproductive health care system that provides abortion services, in a news release called the special legislative session “part of a yearslong trend by anti-abortion politicians to cut access to health care in Iowa,” warned abortion restrictions would “further health inequities,” and claimed Iowans are increasingly traveling out of state to have abortions.

“Calling a special session in the middle of summer for the sole purpose of stripping Iowans of the liberties they prize is not only unprecedented but shows the drastic lengths power-hungry politicians will take to pass deeply unpopular policies,” Mazie Stilwell, the public affairs director for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa, said in a statement. “A growing majority of Iowans support abortion access. Make no mistake: we are prepared to mobilize supporters across the state to demand state legislators reject any proposed abortion ban or further restrictions on abortion care.”

Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman Rita Hart also pledged to make abortion policy a focus of the 2024 elections in Iowa.

“Iowans have made themselves clear that they are not in favor of extreme positions concerning abortion, and I am committed to making sure Iowans have the final word,” Hart said in a statement. “As Iowa Republicans call a special session to concentrate on taking away people’s rights instead of giving them more opportunities, Democrats will work tirelessly to ensure every voter will make their voice heard in the next election cycle. Everyone deserves to make their own health care decisions.”

New law also destined for courts

Whatever new abortion restriction statehouse Republicans pass and Reynolds signs into law, it likely will be challenged in the courts also, legal experts say.

That expected legal challenge could center on the level of legal scrutiny that should be applied to abortion restrictions. In the wake of those 2022 Iowa and U.S. Supreme Court rulings that reversed a fundamental right to abortion at both the state and federal levels, abortion opponents argue that the current “undue burden” test should no longer apply, and that a new “rational basis” test should now apply. That would effectively lower the legal bar for abortion restrictions, making it easier for them to survive court challenges.

Statehouse Republicans also have started the process of amending the Iowa Constitution to state that it does not guarantee the right to abortion services.

To amend the Iowa Constitution, the proposal must pass the Iowa Legislature twice — with an election between — and then pass a public vote.

Republicans passed the proposed anti-abortion constitutional amendment in 2022. In order for it to be enshrined in the Iowa Constitution, they must pass it again by next year and then put it to a public vote.

Tom Barton of The Gazette contributed to this article.

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