DES MOINES, Iowa - The Iowa Senate today will debate a proposed constitutional amendment to that says there's no fundamental right in the Iowa Constitution to abortion or public funding of the procedure.
Yesterday a House Committee approved the same legislation on an 11-9 party-line vote that sends the bill to the full House for debate.
The amendment calls for a public vote to declare the Iowa Constitution “shall not be construed to recognize, grant or secure a right to abortion or to require the public funding of abortion.”
Constitutional amendments must be approved by the legislature for two consecutive years, and then be voted on in a statewide election.
If the amendment is enacted, lawmakers could then pass laws to limit abortions further, which would bypass an Iowa Supreme Court ruling in 2018 that ruling that abortion is a right in the Iowa Constitution.
Iowa law currently prohibits most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
A House subcommittee will consider Thursday two other bills related to abortion.