Northwest Iowa — Steve King, the Republican who represents Iowa’s 4th DIstrict in the U.S. House of Representatives is frustrated by a major pro-life group’s refusal to support his “Heartbeat Protection Act”. The Heartbeat Protection Act” would require doctors to check for a fetal heartbeat before performing an abortion, and make it illegal to perform the abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Congressman King tells KIWA he’s been told by his party’s leadership that the bill won’t move forward unless it is supported by all three major pro-life organizations.
King says National Right to Life refused to support the legislation.
The Congressman said the reason the organization gave for not supporting the bill was that it was “not their legislative strategy.”
He says the fact that National Right to Life has been given defacto veto power over this legislation is intolerable.
King made his comments during a telephone interview with KIWA this week.
Meanwhile an Iowa Senate subcommittee on Monday approved a state bill similar to King’s federal “Heartbeat Protection Act.” The state bill would make it a crime for Iowa doctors to perform abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Doctors could face up to 5-years in prison for performing an abortion after the 6th week of pregnancy, if the state bill becomes law.
A new Iowa law that took effect in May of last year bans nearly all abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. The 72-hour waiting period for all abortions that was included in that law is under judicial review.
