A law that bans abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy in Iowa went into law on Monday.
The law bans abortion as soon as cardiac activity is detected, which can be as early as six weeks of pregnancy. It has exceptions for rape, incest, fetal abnormalities that are incompatible with life and medical emergencies.
People who work in facilties that provide abortion services in adjacent states are saying they anticipate Iowans coming to use those services. Officials at Planned Parenthood clinics in Mankato, Minnesota, and Illinois expect more usage by Iowans.
The Chicago Abortion Access Fund provides people with financial and logistical support to get abortions. It has partnered with the Iowa Abortion Fund in anticipation of Iowa’s law going into effect, and an official said there have been 60 requests from Iowans in the month of July.
Republican leaders who passed the new measure this year say that Iowa voters have spoken in support of abortion restrictions by repeatedly electing Republican majorities in the Legislature.
Iowa Democratic leaders say the state will be a key issue in competitive races this fall, as they seek to hold Republican lawmakers accountable.
The new law went into effect after the Iowa Supreme Court upheld it after legal challenges.
*In other news related to the election, a potential vice presidential pick campaigned in Iowa over the weekend.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear at an Iowa Democratic Party event said that electing Kamala Harris as president will protect women’s abortion rights and ease partisan divisions.
Speaking at the Iowa Democrats’ Liberty and Justice Celebration in Des Moines on Saturday, Beshear said Harris will help move the country beyond what he called “anger politics.”
“I believe that while they will falsely say she’s too far to the left, what she will do as president is not move a country to the right or to the left. She will move it forward for every single American family with no one left out,” Beshear said.
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart says she senses more excitement and hopes Democrats can take some of state’s four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives now all held by Republicans.
*Additionally, researchers recently discovered a remnant prairie at the Iowa State University Horticulture Research Station and are working to restore it.
Remnant prairies have never been plowed or completely converted into non-native species.
An estimated one-tenth of one percent of this original habitat remains in Iowa, even though it once covered nearly 80 percent of the state.
Nick Howell is the superintendent for the horticulture research station.
He says the a 1.5-acre area had been overgrown with trees and brush next to a lake. Three years ago, a researcher recognized seeds pods under snow while working on a fish habitat project.
Howell says prairie specialists that spring confirmed it was a remnant.
“It had been protected for a long, long time. And once we cleared the brush and started burning it, the prairie species started to re-appear,” he said.
While prairie remnants are rare, reconstructed prairies are becoming more common. They currently account for 1-to-2 percent of the state.
