The Iowa Senate had an emotional debate about abortion. It ended when all 29 Republicans, two Democrats and the independent in the senate voted for a bill that would forbid most abortions after a pregnancy reaches its 20th week.
Senator Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, says “dialogue” around the abortion issue has always “perplexed” him.
Feenstra was among 16 Republicans senators who publicly indicated they wanted to go farther and pass legislation that would essentially ban all abortions in Iowa and, perhaps, set up a legal challenge of the 1972 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion.
Senator Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines who voted against the bill, delivered a stillborn baby more than a decade ago after a knot formed in the umbilical cord.
Current Iowa law bans abortions after 27 weeks. This stricter ban would have to clear the Iowa House before it reaches the governor’s desk. Governor Terry Branstad has expressed support for new abortion restrictions.
