Iowa thus becomes the 18th state with a near-total ban on abortion or abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, according to an association which defends the right to abortion.
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A law banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy came into effect in Iowa on Monday, July 29, further extending the list of American states that have banned or severely restricted this right, which has been placed at the heart of the presidential campaign by the Democrats.
The new law bans most abortions once a heartbeat has been detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy. It makes exceptions in cases of rape, incest, danger to the mother’s life and serious developmental abnormalities in the fetus.
The legislation was signed into law by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds last year but stalled until the state Supreme Court intervened this summer. “It’s a victory for life”the governor said last week. The law was made possible more broadly by the end of federal protection of abortion in the United States, decided a little over two years ago by the American Supreme Court. This had been profoundly reworked by President Donald Trump during his term.
Iowa becomes the 18th state with a near-total ban on abortion or abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, an abortion rights organization. A few other states have also adopted gestational limits, for example at 12 or 15 weeks. Until now, abortions were possible up to about 20 weeks in Iowa, a Midwestern state won by Donald Trump in 2020.
“Patients will be forced to travel hundreds of kilometers, if they can afford it”to travel to states where abortion is still legal, lamented Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “This morning, more than 1.5 million Iowa women woke up with fewer rights than they had last night, because of a new Trump abortion ban.”also reacted Kamala Harris on X, probable Democratic candidate in the presidential election of November against the Republican billionaire.
The vice president, who has long taken up the issue, launched a week of mobilization on Monday, with her campaign promising “tens” events in the coming days. In March, she visited a Planned Parenthood clinic that performed abortions, a first for a sitting vice president according to the American press. “In November, we will block Trump’s extreme abortion bans at the ballot box”she added on Monday.