Iowa Supreme Court Upholds Preborn Heartbeat Bill

Andrei_R / shutterstock.com
Andrei_R / shutterstock.com

The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled 4-3 that the state’s pre-born heartbeat bill is constitutional. The law was first passed by the Iowa legislature during a special session in 2023 and signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds (R). The law states that a pre-born baby cannot be murdered in an abortion once he or she has a detectable heartbeat.

A pre-born baby’s heart starts to beat at around day 22 after fertilization (about week 6 of the pregnancy) before the heart has even formed all four chambers. At that point, the baby also has brain waves and its tiny hands have begun to form.

The previous law in Iowa allowed abortion up to 22 weeks into pregnancy, at which point most babies can survive outside the womb. When the legislature first passed the law, a communist district court judge immediately imposed an injunction on it.

Planned Parenthood, which wants to be able to kill babies after they’ve been born, sued the state to try to stop the law. The Supreme Court finally ruled on the case, however, and decided that the heartbeat bill was constitutional under Iowa law.

“We conclude that the heartbeat statute is rationally related to the state’s legitimate interest in protecting unborn life,” wrote the majority in the ruling.

Planned Parenthood was so upset by the fact that it wouldn’t be able to sacrifice as many babies that it expanded the size of its murder factories in nearby states. It doubled the size of its facility in Omaha, Nebraska, and also moved into a larger murder factory in Minnesota.

Regardless of Planned Parenthood’s delicate feelings, the new law means that more Iowan babies will be born going forward. How could any person with a soul view that as a bad thing?