'Fetal heartbeat' abortion bill advances in Iowa Senate after contentious hearing

Amid sharply differing and emotional opinions, an Iowa Senate subcommittee has advanced a bill to ban nearly all Iowa abortions in what some conservative lawmakers hope could become a constitutional test before the nation's highest court.

The Senate panel voted 2-1 Thursday to approve Senate Study Bill 3143, sending it for further consideration before the Senate Judiciary Committee. A similar bill, although not identical, is pending in the Iowa House.

The Republican-sponsored legislation provides that except for a medical emergency, a physician could not perform an abortion in Iowa unless a pregnant woman has been tested to determine if a fetal heartbeat is detectable.

A doctor who performs an abortion after a fetal heartbeat has been detected and without a medical emergency could be charged with a Class D felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.

"This bill is dangerous and unconstitutional," charged Senate Minority Leader Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, who served on the subcommittee. "This bill doesn’t just go after women, it goes after doctors, it goes after girls, it goes after moms, it goes after grandmas, it goes after Iowa families. This bill will impact every Iowan who gets their period and every woman who doesn’t get their period. It is a direct attack on women’s health care across our state."

Sen. Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, who chaired the panel, strongly defended the legislation. She recalled how she became pregnant at age 19 and how she was profoundly affected by her son's heartbeat. She said she recognized he represented a life and was not simply fetal tissue.

“These are human beings," Sinclair said. "We have the responsibility to offer them the same liberty and the same rights that you and I have."

The Senate committee room was jammed with supporters and opponents of the legislation, and women who have had abortions testified for and against the bill. The debate over the fetal heartbeat proposal follows action by the Legislature last year to ban most abortions after 20 weeks and to block public funding for family planning services to clinics that provide abortion.

Opponents said the legislation would make it nearly impossible for a woman to access an abortion in Iowa. They said a fetal heartbeat occurs as early as six weeks gestation, dated from the last menstrual period, when most women are still unaware they are pregnant.

The bill's supporters see the measure as a potential opportunity for Iowa to become a lead state in efforts to reverse Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirmed a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.

Jamie Burch Elliot, representing Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and Planned Parenthood Voters of Iowa, predicted that passage of the bill would lead to endless litigation while wasting Iowa taxpayers' money.

“This bill is unconstitutional and it intentionally goes too far," Burch Elliot said. She also warned that women would face dangerous health consequences because of an intrusion of government into their personal lives.

The Rev. David Sickelka, senior pastor of Urbandale United Church of Christ, also opposed the bill, saying it represents simplistic thinking. He told of being in many hospital rooms where families were forced to make difficult decisions about life and death, adding, "Just a beating heart is not life." He spoke on behalf of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa.

Maggie DeWitte, executive director of Iowans for Life, offered a different view. She contended it is not hard to reach the conclusion that a heartbeat in a womb represents a child that is alive.

“I urge passage of this bill to protect the most vulnerable in our society," DeWitte said.

Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, who served on the subcommittee, said he believes culture has been moving towards a pro-life view for decades that has become repulsed by a "holocaust of death" related to abortion.

"This may be what our culture is ready for," Schultz remarked. "Stopping a beating heart is never health care."

The bill's opponents presented a letter to lawmakers from Dr. Marygrace Elson of Iowa City, chair of Iowa Section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Elson warned that passage of the bill could result in a loss of accreditation of the obstetrics and gynecology residency training program at University of Iowa. This is the only such training program in Iowa, which already ranks near the bottom nationally in the number of obstetrician/gynecologists per 1,000 women, she said.

Schultz rejected Elson's letter, describing the doctor as a "science denier" and a "liberal author that played pretty fast and loose" with her facts. "That is not an argument that works for me," he said.

Tom Chapman, a lobbyist for the Iowa Catholic Conference, which represents Iowa's Roman Catholic bishops, said the bishops are taking a neutral stance on the bill. While science shows that life begins at conception, the bishops are concerned that courts would find the legislation unconstitutional, he said. That could result in the removal of restrictions on abortion already enacted in Iowa, he added.

Chapman said later that the Iowa bishop's neutral stance on the bill is consistent with policy positions by other U.S. bishops. But Sen. Rick Bertrand, R-Sioux City, a Catholic who is strongly opposed to abortion and who observed the meeting, said he was disappointed with the Iowa Catholic Conference.

"I think we need to go back to the bishops. If you are neutral, you are against the bill," Bertrand said. The senator later issued a statement saying the position of the Iowa Catholic Conference is out of step with everyday Catholics in Iowa.

“The defense of life is one of our core Catholic beliefs, and I believe that the bishops need to explain to their parishioners on Sunday why they have taken this position," Bertrand said.