Late Tuesday evening, the Iowa senate passed a bill that would prohibit abortion beyond six weeks of pregnancy.
The vote came after just hours after the house passed the bill, sending it to the desk of Governor Kim Reynolds, who expressed her support for signing it.
“Tonight the Iowa legislature has passed — for a second time and by wider margins — legislation to protect life and end abortion at a heartbeat. The voices of the unborn and their elected representatives will not be silenced any longer! Congrats to the Iowa House and Senate!” the governor tweeted following the news.
Iowa’s previous law prohibited abortions beyond 20 weeks following conception, apart from a 22-week exception after a menstrual period.
Passage of the bill was hailed by Republican representative Shannon Lundgren, who said it “protects unborn children in Iowa.”
“This bill sets a clear standard where the state has an interest in the life of the child: when the baby’s heart starts beating. Where there is a heartbeat, there is life.”
Outside the voting chamber, in the rotunda of the Iowa General Assembly, pro-choice demonstraters held placards emblazoned with messages such as “Abortion Access For All,” “Reproductive Freedom Voter,” “Abortion is Normal,” and “No Forced Births.”
Democratic state representative Jennifer Konfrst, the House minority leader, told the crowd to communicate their anger at the ballot box.
“They’re going to see why they’re wrong. We’re doing this in the summer because they want us to forget,” Konfrst told the crowd. “We’re going to fight like hell today. We will show up. We will stand up. And I need you all in this fight.”
Fellow house Democrat, Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, noted that the party had a different vision for helping women in the state.
“Democrats would lead differently,” Wessel-Kroeschell told the Des Moines Register. “We would make sure that a full spectrum of reproductive health care is available for Iowa women.”
During the vote, presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy visited and spoke to constituents.
“I’m unapologetically pro-life. I’m also a free speech absolutist. Especially for those who disagree with me. Proud of @KimReynoldsIA and the Iowa legislature for protecting life,” the former tech entrepreneur tweeted on Tuesday late afternoon alongside a video clip showing him speaking with demonstraters.
“I respect your right to have your position. I respect your right to speak openly. I see it slightly differently,” Ramaswamy told one pro-life picketer. “I see this as a celebration of what it means to be an American – I disagree with many of those protesters – but I still respect their right to protest.”
Throughout the marathon special session on Tuesday, supporters and detractors of the bill shared personal stories seeking to sway legislators.
“I was told that it was just a blob of tissue, that it was easy and it was safe,” Republican Representative Launa Stoltenberg said. “That was a lie. Those abortions caused me not to be able to have children. Every day I live with the reality that I killed the only children I would ever have.”
Across the aisle, Democratic Representative Elinor Levin argued that nobody should have the power to tell a woman what to do with her body. “No government should ever have the power to force a human to go through a pregnancy and give birth,” she said.
The chief executive of the regional Planned Parenthood chapter, Ruth Richardson, told the Register that the organization is prepared to challenge the new law in court.
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida signed a similar bill that passed through the state legislature in April.