Iowa Senate committee advances bill defining unborn as human beings

A Senate subcommittee in Iowa has advanced a bill that could effectively outlaw abortions by declaring that human life begins at conception.

Senate File 253, also referred to as the personhood bill, was co-sponsored by 20 of the Republicans in the Iowa Senate, according to Radio Iowa. The measure needs to be approved by a full Senate committee by Friday to remain eligible for consideration.

Sen. Brad Zaun (R-Urbandale), who chaired the judiciary subcommittee and one of the co-sponsors of the bill, said that the measure is meant to align all aspects of Iowa law. He noted that prosecutors will be able to bring two murder charges if a boyfriend or a husband kills a pregnant woman. He added that unborn children are included in Medicaid figures.

"We have been building framework of law that treats one of the most serious decisions we have to make with violence — death as a solution," he said, as reported by Globe Gazette.

A large crowd gathered at the hearing on Monday to express their support and opposition to the legislation.

Pro-life advocates, who dressed in black, carried signs, chanted and sang, and they spilled out of the meeting room at the statehouse and into the capitol rotunda.

"All other rights are worthless if you don't have right to life," said Rebecca Kiessling, a pro-life activist and an attorney from Michigan. She said that the measure provides an "excellent strategy" to overturn Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion.

"You're providing the framework to recognize that the unborn child is a person and also to have a public policy that perfers childbirth over abortion," she added.

Critics of the legislation were concerned that it would outlaw abortions, in-vitro fertilization and birth control pills.

"This bill is extreme and reckless. I think it's worth noting that there is no other legislation that has been passed in this entire country of this kind," said Erin Davison-Rippey, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.

On Tuesday, a separate Senate subcommittee voted 2–1 to approve Senate File 53, which seeks to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The bill now goes to the Senate Human Resources Committee, where it faces an uncertain future as a pending legislative deadline is set this week.