Iowa Governor Terry Branstad will sign into law SF 471, the 20-week abortion ban tomorrow morning, Friday, May 5.
This legislation bans abortions once a baby is at 20 weeks in the womb. Additionally, it allows for a 72-hour waiting period before any abortion. Further, the abortionist must offer the woman the ability to listen to her baby’s heartbeat and provide information about her baby’s development.
The three-day waiting period ensures that a woman seeking an abortion must return three days later to proceed. This measure gives her more time to contemplate such an irreversible decision.
Iowa will become the seventh state to require a three-day waiting period for women seeking abortions; joining Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Utah.
So where is Iowa’s abortion giant today?
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and the ACLU are in a Polk County courtroom asking for an injunction against this common-sense legislation.
According to an email I received from their CEO, Suzanna de Baca last night they need the temporary injunction because, “the new law will immediately interrupt the appointments – and lives – of women already scheduled to have abortion procedures that day and on the following days.”
She goes on to say, “This abortion restriction is among the harshest in the nation and puts a woman’s health at risk by forcing her to have an abortion later in pregnancy. This risks women’s health solely for political reasons, and that is simply unacceptable.”
Read her entire fundraising email here.
As you can imagine, there are MANY things I want to say in response to her message; I will limit them to three:
1. “…the new law will immediately interrupt the appointments – and lives – of women already scheduled to have abortion procedures that day and on the following days.”
Most importantly, these abortions will interrupt the lives of the little girls or boys, growing inside their mother’s womb.
2. “This abortion restriction is among the harshest in the nation…”
Allowing a woman more time to consider her options, giving her facts about her growing child, hearing her baby’s heartbeat and giving the opportunity to view her baby on an ultrasound is hardly harsh. It’s real empowerment for a woman.
Subjecting a baby to a painful, brutal death by abortion is the very definition of harsh. This law will protect babies and their mothers from these dangerous terminations.
3. “This risks women’s health solely for political reasons, and that is simply unacceptable.”
Abortion is a moral issue that has been politicized. This law is not motivated by “political reasons.”
This law will end dangerous, painful late-term abortions in Iowa, thereby protecting the lives of mothers and their unborn babies.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and the ACLU clearly missed the memo.
This past November, Iowans took to the General Election polls. 93 counties in Iowa did not vote for the pro-abortion presidential candidate; only six counties did. Six rabidly pro-abortion State Senators were also removed from office, including then-Majority Leader, Michael Gronstal, all replaced with Pro-Life Senators.
The Iowa House, the Iowa Senate, and the Governor’s administration are all resoundingly Pro-Life.
Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and their supporters are not in line with the majority of Iowans. It’s past time they accept that reality.
