The Iowa House has passed a bill that would require women to wait 24 hours before receiving an abortion.
The House passed the measure on a 53-42 vote late Saturday night after making a last-minute change to add the waiting period section to the bill. The bill will now go to the Senate, which is expected to pass it.
“Iowans want to see unborn lives protected,” said Rep. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville. “This bill is a big step in that direction."
Democrats on Saturday night voiced their displeasure with the last-minute move.
“It’s appalling to see my GOP colleagues exploit this moment of national pandemic to advance an ideological agenda that is out of touch with Iowans,” said Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames. "Our constituents want us to work together for common-sense solutions to real problems.”
Seven Republican representatives filed an amendment Saturday evening, adding the requirement to a bill that would limit a court's ability to take a child off life support without the consent of the child's parent or guardian.
The bill would say a woman could not have an abortion for at least 24 hours after an initial appointment. At that appointment, the woman would have had to be given the opportunity to view an ultrasound scan of her fetus and would be given information about abortion and its options, including adoption.
Salmon said the waiting period would keep women from making decisions "under duress" and would hopefully lead to more choosing not to follow through with an abortion.
The bill's floor manager, Rep. Shannon Lundgren, R-Dubuque, said Republicans have been looking for a bill to attach the waiting period amendment to and said this seemed like a good fit.
"We’re always thinking ahead and thinking about how we can advance the life movement in the state of Iowa," she said.
On the House floor, she pointed to other waiting periods in Iowa law, such as the three-day waiting period between a baby's birth and adoption and the 90-day waiting period for a divorce.
The bill passed with votes from all 52 Republicans in attendance plus Rep. Andy McKean, D-Anamosa, who switched parties from Republican to Democrat last year.
Senate Democrats suspected the abortion-related addition would be coming when the Senate approved a technical amendment to the bill earlier on Saturday.
“I may be wrong, but my gut tells me that this is going to be a vehicle to use to send an abortion bill back to this chamber, and (that) this is the start of an abortion debate on the very last day of session in the middle of a global pandemic,” Senate Minority Leader Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, said from the floor.
House Democratic Whip Jo Oldson had said in a statement earlier Saturday evening that she was "appalled" at the last-minute change.
“They’ve kept this plan secret for weeks and released it on a Saturday night so they didn’t have to hear from Iowans," she said. "It’s time for Iowa Republican lawmakers to be more transparent and stop the relentless attacks on the rights of Iowa women.”
Democrats immediately put out calls on social media for people to call the House and Senate switchboards.
The Iowa Legislature is meeting Saturday in the hopes of passing a budget and adjourning for the year this weekend.
The Iowa Supreme Court in 2018 struck down a longer, 72-hour waiting period to receive an abortion. In the process, the court found a fundamental right to abortion in the Iowa Constitution, granting greater protections for abortion rights in Iowa than exist under federal law.
Republicans have accused the court of judicial overreach and are seeking to have the decision overturned. The Senate earlier this year passed a proposed constitutional amendment that, if enacted, would nullify the Supreme Court decision and state that the Constitution "shall not be construed to recognize, grant or secure a right to abortion or to require the public funding of abortion."
"We believe that Iowa Supreme Court exceeded their authority when they overturned the 72-hour waiting period and decided that our Constitution states that there is a right to abortion in this state," Lundgren said.
The House has not yet passed the proposed constitutional amendment. Lundgren said she's not sure whether it has the support to pass in the House. Republicans have a 53-47 advantage over Democrats in the chamber.
"This is (what) I believe that I have the support within our caucus for and so this is the vehicle that I chose to kind of hang our hat on this year," she said of the waiting period bill.
Eighteen states have current requirements for women to wait 24 hours before receiving an abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Eight more have longer waiting periods of either 48 or 72 hours, and one state, Indiana, has an 18-hour waiting period.
The makeup of the seven-member Iowa Supreme Court has changed since the 2018 ruling. Since then, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has appointed four new justices to the court, replacing two Democrat-appointed justices and two Republican-appointed justices. Republican governors have now appointed six of the court's members.
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
Ian Richardson covers the Iowa Statehouse for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at irichardson@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8254, or on Twitter at @DMRIanR.
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Iowa House passes bill requiring 24-hour abortion waiting period, sending it to Senate - Des Moines Register
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