Iowa passes 6-week abortion ban

Washington, Jul 12 (EFE).- The US state of Iowa’s Republican-controlled legislature late Tuesday night approved a ban on nearly all abortions after around six weeks of pregnancy.

The bill, ratified by both state houses on the same day, includes exceptions for cases of rape or incest, but prohibits abortions from the moment cardiac activity can be detected – at about six weeks and before most women know they are pregnant.

Previously, abortions in the state were allowed up to 20 weeks.

The special session was called by the state’s Republican Governor Kim Reynolds in an attempt to revive a 2018 anti-abortion law that had been blocked in the courts.

Both pro-choice and anti-abortion protests have taken place at the state Capitol throughout the day, according to the Washington Post.

With the measure, Iowa joins a large number of states governed by conservatives that have restricted or banned medical termination of pregnancy after the US Supreme Court struck down federal abortion protections last year.

To date, according to data from Planned Parenthood, which has the largest network of reproductive health clinics in the US, access to abortion has been partially or totally eliminated in 20 states, including Texas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and North Carolina, to which Iowa has now been added.

The bans force women who want to terminate their pregnancies to travel to states that allow it or to order abortion pills by mail, although this method is also now in the sights of many Republican legislators. EFE

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