Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law that would ban an abortion roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, just as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected.
The bill, which is likely to trigger immediate lawsuits, will make Iowa the most restrictive state for abortions in the country. It requires doctors to conduct an ultrasound on pregnant women to test for a fetal heartbeat and to refuse to provide an abortion if it is detected.
The bill, which reached the governor’s desk without any Democratic support, provides for exemptions in the cases of rape, incest or when a woman’s pregnancy endangers her life.
The ban will go into effect July 1 if it isn’t stopped by the courts. Pro-abortion rights groups say women often don’t know they are pregnant until later in a pregnancy, and Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and the American Civil Liberties Union have said they plan to sue.
“Politicians in Iowa are hell bent on controlling women’s bodies, taking away our rights, and blocking access to healthcare,” Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement after the bill was signed into law. “People will not stand for it, and we will not stand for it. Now is the time for us to unite and fight for every person’s right to access the care they need. Gov. Reynolds, we’ll see you in court. We will fight for our patients’ rights and access to care with everything we’ve got.”
Iowa had implemented a ban on abortion after 20 weeks into a pregnancy.
Anti-abortion groups hope that implementing these laws can result in Supreme Court cases that would define how late into a pregnancy a woman may have an abortion. Under Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal nationwide, abortion is allowed “prior to the viability of the fetus.”
The Trump administration has appointed conservative judges, and anti-abortion groups have been urging for the passage of similar bans in other states to overhaul Roe v. Wade or place stricter limits on how late into a pregnancy an abortion can occur.
Mississippi lawmakers passed a 15-week abortion ban in March, which a judge put on hold pending a court decision.
