DES MOINES, Iowa >> Republican legislators sent Iowa’s governor a bill early Wednesday that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy, propelling the state overnight to the front of a push among conservative statehouses jockeying to enact the nation’s most restrictive regulations on the procedure. Critics say the so-called “heartbeat” bill would ban the medical procedure before some women even know they’re pregnant, and it sets the state up for a legal challenge over its constitutionality. Backers of the legislation, which failed to get a single Democratic vote in either Iowa chamber, expressed hope it could challenge Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established women have a right to terminate pregnancies until a fetus is viable. Erin Davison-Rippey, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, said in a statement Iowa Republicans “do not care how much taxpayer money will be spent on a lawsuit ... or how many families may choose to go elsewhere because Iowa is no longer a state where they are safe to live and work.”

The House began debate over the measure early Tuesday afternoon, voting it out shortly before midnight with six Republicans there opposing it. The US Supreme Court in 2016 rejected appeals by both North Dakota and Arkansas to preserve similar “heartbeat” laws, which had been struck down by lower courts. The legislation passed overnight has some exemptions, allowing abortions after a detectable heartbeat in order to save a pregnant woman’s life, and in some cases of rape and incest.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signs a bill into law which bans most abortions in the state if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, or roughly after around six weeks into pregnancy.