It’s kind of like watching sausage get made.
The bill, HF 5, which would ban abortions after 20 weeks (and prevent LeRoy Carhart from setting up shop in Iowa) was voted out of the House Government Oversight Committee last night on a 5-4 vote. Before that happened Democrats on the committee – State Representatives Janet Petersen (D-Des Moines), Bob Kressig (D-Cedar Falls), and Deborah Berry (D-Waterloo) offered an amendment that would strike out HF 5 language and replace it with the personhood language from HF 153.
This placed Republicans on the committee: State Representatives Chris Hagenow (R-Windsor Heights), Chip Baltimore (R-Boone), Clel Baudler (R-Greenfield), Dawn Pettengill (R-Mt. Auburn), and David Tjepkes (R-Gowrie) in the strange position of voting against personhood language or losing the HF 5 language. Stranger still was to see the Democrats on the committee along with State Representative Kim Pearson (R-Pleasant Hill) (she authored HF 153) to vote in favor of it.
With that amendment being defeated the bill then passed out of committee with all Democrats with Pearson voting against, and five Republicans voting for the bill. The bill will be eligible for debate and a full vote in the House this coming Monday, March 28, 2011.
