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DES MOINES, Iowa -- After years of court rulings and hours of debate Tuesday, a bill banning abortion after six weeks is passed by the Iowa Legislature during a day-long special session.
"It's not our place to decide for someone else whether they should become a parent. Decisions about whether to end a pregnancy or not must be made personally. This bill will kill women," says Story County Democratic State Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell.
On the other side, Iowa County Republican Representative Brad Sherman.
"Abortion is never safe for a baby, ever. Abortion always results in a death. The baby is not being considered very much here this afternoon, and I want to speak up for those unborn babies," he says.
The bill passed the Senate 32-17 with all Democrats and one Republican voting against. The House's 56-34 vote saw all the Democrats present and two Republicans in opposition.
The 2023 bill is almost identical to Iowa's 2018 Fetal Heartbeat Law, which was ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court. Abortion is currently legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds says she'll sign the bill into law Friday afternoon during the "Family Leadership Summit" in Des Moines hosted by the Christian-conservative group the Iowa Family Leader.
A number of groups, including Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and the Iowa ACLU filed a lawsuit Wednesday to block enforcement of the ban.
"If this abortion ban goes into effect, it will place an unacceptable burden on patients’ ability to access essential abortion care, especially those who already face systemic inequities," says Planned Parenthood North Central States President Ruth Richardson.
The groups want a judge to block the soon-to-be law from taking effect until arguments can be heard on a permanent injunction--similar to what happened to the 2018 law.