DES MOINES, Iowa - Supporters of a proposed law that would make most abortions illegal in Iowa say they are ready to take it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
TheIt would make abortion illegal once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, generally around six weeks of pregnancy. Current Iowa law bans abortions after 20 weeks.
The Iowa House passed the proposed new law Tuesday night, and early Wednesday morning the Iowa State Senate also passed the bill.
All that remains is for Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds to sign the bill into law.
While similar laws have been debated in several other states, only two other states have passed fetal heartbeat laws. In both Arkansas and North Dakota the law was found to be unconstitutional when challenged in the courts.
In March of this year, WHO Radio News reported that U.S. Congressman Steve King of Iowa believes the Iowa fetal heartbeat law could lead to a U.S. Supreme Court challenge, overturning Roe v. Wade, the law that allows legal abortion.
"We have pretty good information... that Justice Kennedy is going to retire." King tells WHO Radio's Jeff Angelo.
"If that is true, we want to be able to get the heartbeat bill before the United States Supreme Court as soon as possible." King said.