Members of the Iowa Supreme Court allowed a law restricting abortion after detection of a fetal heartbeat to enter into effect, even as the law fails to criminalize abortion for all parties involved.
The legislation, which became enforceable on Monday, effectively restricts abortion after six weeks gestation but contains exceptions for preborn children conceived in rape, incest, or deemed “incompatible with life” by the abortionist. Planned Parenthood previously announced that they will “continue to provide abortions in Iowa in compliance with the law.”
Iowa Republican Governor Kim Reynolds said in a statement that the Iowa Supreme Court decision marks a “victory for life” and vowed to promote a “culture of life in Iowa.” Several pro-life organizations and activists also commended the law in separate statements.
The legislation nevertheless forbids “civil or criminal liability” for any woman “upon whom an abortion is performed,” meaning that no mother can be prosecuted for willfully obtaining an abortion. Statutes enacted in several pro-life conservative states purport to ban abortion but forbid officials from prosecuting mothers even if they willfully murder their preborn children.
Some anti-abortion Christians therefore cautioned that the law allows for pregnant mothers to pursue abortion and contains ineffective penalties for abortionists. Iowa Republican State Representative Zach Dieken, who voted against the legislation last year, commented in an interview with The Sentinel that the fetal heartbeat law is ultimately “iniquitous and unjust.”
“For this to be a ‘ban on abortion,’ there needs to be some form of justice rendered, and there is none,” he said in reference to pro-life activists making such claims. “I think this will push more mothers to abort via abortion pills. We are going to see that continue to be a trend.”
Dieken indeed asserted that blanket exemptions from prosecution fail to address the advent of abortion pills, which are now used for nearly two-thirds of abortions in the United States. The lawmaker also noted that the Iowa Board of Medicine, which has many pro-abortion members, will determine penalties for abortionists, rendering him skeptical that the law would be effective.
The enforcement of the fetal heartbeat law comes months after Dieken introduced a bill that would have ensured “unborn children are protected from homicide and assault by the same criminal and civil laws protecting all other persons.” The bill faced opposition from Iowa Republican State Representative Steven Holt, the chair of the Iowa House Judiciary Committee, who said in a statement that he rejected the equal protection bill on the basis that the measure would “allow mothers who abort their children to be prosecuted and jailed,” asserting that “no credible person in the pro-life community” believes such a law would be “acceptable.”
Dieken told The Sentinel that even as “there has been no headway with legislators” on the mandate to enact equal protection of the laws for preborn babies, he has been “so thankful” that individual Christians and broader church communities in Iowa are supporting the effort.
“We have seen the church really show up because I really do think that is what people believe. I think the underlying conviction is probably already there,” he said. “What the Lord is doing in Iowa is wonderful. We saw the church rally behind the bill and that is going to continue.”
