Lawmakers, advocates will converge on Iowa Capitol for abortion policy debate

The Iowa Capitol will be ground zero for state abortion policy Tuesday. Advocates on both sides of the issue plan to fill the Capitol as lawmakers consider legislation to severely restrict abortion access in the state.

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Here’s what to expect during Iowa’s abortion special session

Iowa lawmakers meet today in a special session to consider a bill that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat — defined as “cardiac activity, the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the gestational sac” — is detected. It includes exceptions for pregnancies that are the result of rape in cases that are reported within 45 days, and incest in cases that are reported within 140 days.

How to watch or participate

Iowa House lawmakers will hold a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Iowa State Capitol in Room 103, Supreme Court Chamber, on HSB 255. Speaking time will be limited to two minutes per person and alternate between those in support and those opposed to the legislation. The hearing ends at 11 a.m.

Those signed to speak must be in person at the event. The meeting will be livestreamed via YouTube. The link will be provided 60 minutes before the start of the meeting on the homepage for the Iowa Legislature at legis.iowa.gov.

Those wishing to sign up to speak on the bill can do so at bit.ly/44z8xyF. Check in will start around 9 a.m. Individuals can also leave written testimony or comment at the link above.

Those with questions can contact the Chief Clerk at (515) 281-5383.

It also includes exceptions for miscarriages, a fetal abnormality that would result in the infant’s death, and for when the mother’s life is threatened.

Maggie DeWitte, executive director of the anti-abortion group Pulse Life Advocates, said she’s thankful Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Republicans responded to calls to act quickly on new abortion restrictions “to save more and more unborn children’s lives and protect women from the harm of abortion.”

Opponents, including physicians, argue politicians should not be making medical decisions for patients, and that the law ignores well-established medical standards.

Iowa Legislature special session schedule

8:30 a.m.: both chambers gavel in for the special session, vote to adopt rules

9:15 a.m.: House HHS committee meeting begins (will adjourn for public hearing)

9:30 a.m.-11 a.m.: public hearing

11 a.m.: House HHS committee resumes (end time unknown)

11 a.m.: Senate State Government committee meeting begins

2 p.m.: Senate State Government committee ends (if still going)

4 p.m.: Senate debate begins

11 p.m.: Senate debate ends (if still going)

A trio of Iowa OB-GYNs told reporters last week a doctor's ability to detect embryonic cardiac activity varies between pregnancies, but can occur as early as six to eight weeks of pregnancy — before many women know they are pregnant and before the fetus can survive outside the womb.

They also warned such restrictions will hinder their ability to provide medically necessary care, prevent disease, avert emergencies and respond to time-sensitive issues. They noted doctors in other states with strict abortion measures, fearing legal repercussions, are risking grave patient harm to comply, including letting patients’ conditions deteriorate until they threaten the mother’s life.

“These laws often force doctors between providing evidence-based essential reproductive health care or breaking the law,” Dr. Sarah Traxler, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood North Central States, told reporters Monday.

The reproductive health care system provides abortion services in Iowa and surrounding states.

“Lawyers shouldn’t be the ones making health care decisions,” Traxler said.

DeWitte contends Iowa law “clearly articulates when in fact Iowa physicians can help women who are having a medical emergency.”

“Medical providers under Iowa law can always act to save a woman’s life,” she said. “ … Providers are well within the law to provide care, and the heartbeat bill and passage of the heartbeat bill will not change that in any way.”

In 2021, an estimated 10.2 percent of pregnancies in Iowa ended in abortion. That number does not take into account miscarriages.

There were 3,761 abortions in Iowa in 2021, the most recent year for which numbers were available from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, compared with 36,786 total births.

That’s down about 7 percent compared with the 4,058 abortions performed in the state in 2020.

Physicians who perform an abortion in violation of the proposed law would face disciplinary action from the Iowa Board of Medicine, including the possibility of losing their license.

A woman who receives an abortion would not face civil or criminal liability.

The bill states the law takes effect upon enactment, and directs the Board of Medicine to adopt rules to administer the bill.

Rally for reproductive rights

Representatives from Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa, One Iowa Action and Progress Iowa will gather inside the first floor rotunda of the Iowa Capitol at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday to demand state legislators reject any abortion bans and further restrictions on abortion care.

Parking options for Tuesday here: bit.ly/3JSNKOK.

Coalition of Pro-life Leaders in Iowa also will be at the Iowa Capitol tomorrow and is encouraging Iowans to join them and speak at the public hearing to support the legislation.

Legal fight likely if new law is passed

Iowa Planned Parenthood representatives said they are prepared to again take the state to court to block abortion restrictions.

Iowa physicians and medical professionals say the use of the term “fetal heartbeat” is misleading.

Some major medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, note that what is detected at six weeks is electrical impulses. An actual heartbeat does not occur until roughly 17 to 20 weeks of pregnancy, they say.

Supporters of the bill say the presence of a heartbeat indicates life that deserves equal protection under the law.

Abortion is currently legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks. Abortion rights advocates say such a prohibition would end 98 percent of the now-legal abortions in Iowa.

New restrictions could widen health inequities, advocates warn

Representatives of Planned Parenthood North Central States and Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City told reporters Monday banning abortion at any stage of pregnancy denies a person the fundamental right to control their own body and health care decisions.

Ruth Richardson, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said the proposed ban and similar restrictions in other states disproportionately affect marginalized people who cannot afford to travel to another state for care.

Such restrictions widen existing health inequities for people in rural areas, people of color, people with disabilities, and people with low-incomes, and make them more likely to be forced into pregnancy, Richardson said.

Those health inequities will continue to grow, she said, as state abortion bans and restrictions lead to labor and delivery unit closures, essential health care providers leaving the state, and a lack of comprehensive reproductive health care training for medical students.

Iowa has among the fewest OB-GYN specialists per capita of any state in the country, according to data from the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the state of Iowa.

DeWitte said anti-abortion advocates continue to advocate for and have secured additional funding from lawmakers this year for crisis pregnancy centers that provide pregnancy support and discourage abortion.

“And they’re located all across the state, 55 of them, in rural and urban areas,” DeWitte said. “And they’ve been providing quality health care services, financial assistance, mental health counseling — all of the things these women in crisis pregnancies need to be successful parents.”

Abortion rights advocates and Democrats say the crisis pregnancy centers lack expertise, accountability and regulations that medical centers that provide abortion have to abide by. They also argue the centers, often religiously affiliated, provide misleading information about abortion.

Iowa clinics ready to help patients access abortion care

Planned Parenthood North Central States will continue to provide abortions in Iowa as long as it is legal to do so, but will comply with the law once enacted, Traxler said.

Richardson said the organization has also expanded its abortion patient navigator program that connects patients with the care they need across the region and country.

The Minnesota Department of Health reported a 211 percent increase last year in Iowans traveling to the state to receive an abortion. In 2022, 174 Iowans traveled to Minnesota for the medical procedure, compared to 56 in 2021.

Overall, Planned Parenthood North Central States helped more than 1,600 patients, including those from as far away as Texas and Louisiana, get to abortion appointments last year.

Francine Thompson, executive director of the Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City, said “the chaos of never-ending attacks” on abortion access and “the rapidly shifting landscape of abortion regulations” have created confusion and unnecessary medical barriers to care, including a 24-hour waiting period.

“In the last year, the confusion has increased dramatically,” Thompson said. “Iowans who used to be able to cross the state line to get an abortion in Missouri now have to travel longer distances across the state of Iowa to get the care they need. … More people will likely be pushed further into pregnancy as they travel for care, face longer wait times in their own or other states, and as they gather the funds and the supports necessary to access care.”

Thompson said it’s the clinic’s priority to remain a provider of reproductive health care, and will continue to provide appropriate referrals.

“We understand that this is going to be challenging for folks, but we’re going to work really hard to make sure there everyone who wants and needs an abortion is still able to get one in spite of what happens in the next couple days,” she said.

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com