Northwest Iowa — Steve King, the Republican who represents Iowa’s 4th DIstrict in the U.S. House of Representatives is frustrated by a major pro-life group’s refusal to support his “Heartbeat Protection Act”. The Heartbeat Protection Act” would require doctors to check for a fetal heartbeat before performing an abortion, and make it illegal to perform the abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected.

Congressman King tells KIWA he’s been told by his party’s leadership that the bill won’t move forward unless it is supported by all three major pro-life organizations.

http://kiwaradio.com/files/KingHeartbeat-1-1.mp3

King says National Right to Life refused to support the legislation.

http://kiwaradio.com/files/KingHeartbeat-2-1.mp3

The Congressman said the reason the organization gave for not supporting the bill was that it was “not their legislative strategy.”

http://kiwaradio.com/files/KingHeartbeat-3-1.mp3

He says the fact that National Right to Life has been given defacto veto power over this legislation is intolerable.

http://kiwaradio.com/files/KingHeartbeat-4.mp3

King made his comments during a telephone interview with KIWA this week.

Meanwhile an Iowa Senate subcommittee on Monday approved a state bill similar to King’s federal “Heartbeat Protection Act.” The state bill would make it a crime for Iowa doctors to perform abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Doctors could face up to 5-years in prison for performing an abortion after the 6th week of pregnancy, if the state bill becomes law.

A new Iowa law that took effect in May of last year bans nearly all abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. The 72-hour waiting period for all abortions that was included in that law is under judicial review.