Iowa Republicans passed a personhood bill in the state House on Thursday night that would make it a felony to “cause the death” of an “unborn person,” putting the conservative Midwestern state directly into the national battle over protections for in vitro fertilization.
The bill in its current form does not provide any protections for embryos created via IVF — which, according to Democrats in the state and reproductive rights advocates, means the measure could easily be interpreted as criminalizing IVF care and services.
Passage of the bill by the GOP-controlled state House makes Iowa the latest state where lawmakers have taken steps that could threaten IVF. The procedure involves the creation of embryos outside the body, and many are often discarded if not used.
The vote in Iowa came just hours after Republican lawmakers in Alabama — trying to curtail the fallout over a state Supreme Court ruling that said embryos are children — enacted a bill intended to protect IVF. The Alabama court’s ruling has prompted broader concerns that conservative measures targeting abortion elsewhere would also go after the fertility procedure.
To be enacted, the Iowa bill would still have to be passed by the state Senate and signed by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds.
A spokesperson for Reynolds didn’t respond to questions about whether she supported the bill.
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