Iowa Republicans are preparing to use a special legislative session that begins Tuesday to push for a ban on most abortions after six weeks. If enacted, the measure would make the key presidential state among the strictest in regulating reproductive rights.
The special session will meet just days before a key political summit held by an influential evangelical Christian group that is sure to keep the divisive issue in the spotlight in the state.
The invoice proposed by Iowa Republicans, who control the Legislature, would ban abortions in the sixth week of pregnancy, or when, in some cases, fetal pulses can first be heard via ultrasound.
Reproductive rights advocates have said that a six-week ban amounts to a total ban on abortion because women don’t even know they are pregnant that soon.
As of Monday afternoon, the measure was the only one that Republican lawmakers had made public for consideration during session.
The bill, which includes exceptions for female life, rape, incest and fetal anomalies, is nearly identical to a six-week ban that remains permanently blocked following a split ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court last month. The ruling allowed abortion to remain legal in Iowa until about the 20th week of pregnancy.
If enacted, the law is likely to face some of the same legal hurdles, but the outcome could be different with a full state Supreme Court issuing a decision.
How the Legislature proceeds to advance abortion restrictions during the special session is sure to have broader ramifications for presidential politics.
With Iowa set to be the first state to hold Republican caucuses for the 2024 presidential race, Republican candidates already sweeping the state will be asked for their input on the proposed new restrictions. Vote in the stateas well as nationally, finds that the majority of voters support people who have abortion rights, which could make any candidate’s support for a strict abortion ban a political vulnerability among general election voters .
Republicans have often struggled to speak to voters about abortion rights in the year since the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling struck down Roe v. Wade. However, support for tougher abortion restrictions remains popular among conservative evangelical Christians, a key voting bloc in the state’s Republican caucuses.
Later this week, several 2024 Republican candidates are expected to attend a summit hosted by a prominent Christian conservative group in Des Moines, where abortion restrictions are sure to be a main focus. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina are some of the candidates scheduled to attend the conference, called the Family Leadership Summit.
Meanwhile, Democratic state legislators and reproductive rights groups oppose the bill and have organized protests Tuesday outside the state capitol.
Lawmakers can still amend the bill during the legislative process before a final vote, which could happen as early as Tuesday night.
Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds called the special legislative session, which she said would be devoted exclusively to enacting “pro-life legislation” — after the state Supreme Court issued a divided decision on the six-week abortion ban she had proposed in 2018.
A Reynolds spokesman did not respond to questions about whether he supports the recently proposed six-week ban.
The state Supreme Court’s 3-3 ruling last month meant the court failed to reach a majority to decide whether to overturn a lower court decision blocking Reynolds’ effort to reinstate a 2018 six-week abortion ban. .
In his statement announcing the special session, Reynolds called that decision a “lack of action” that “ignores the will of Iowa voters and legislators who will not rest until the unborn are protected by law.”
Yet another six-week ban could again face hurdles in state courts.
But because the last ruling was a strictly tailored decision based largely on procedural grounds, it remains possible that a full seven-member court could find a legal consensus on a new ban.
One of the court’s seven judges, Dana Oxley, a Reynolds appointee, recused herself because her former law firm represented an abortion clinic that was a plaintiff in the original case.
Last month’s split decision featured three justices who suggested they might uphold a legal standard, known as “rational grounds,” that could allow a six-week abortion to stand in the future.
If Oxley were part of the next decision, it would most likely result in a clear and legally binding majority on a six-week ban.
