DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) 鈥� A bill that would have made changes to Iowa's fetal homicide law has been shelved after a Senate Republican joined Democrats in voicing concerns about the potential impact on after an found frozen embryos can be considered children.
The Senate declined to consider the bill, which was approved by the House last week.
Iowa鈥檚 law currently outlines penalties for terminating or seriously injuring a 鈥渉uman pregnancy.鈥� The bill would have changed that language to be about the death of, or serious injury to, an 鈥渦nborn person鈥� from fertilization to live birth.
The bill in Iowa was one of many being considered by state Legislatures around the country that would for embryos and fetuses, a long-time goal of the anti-abortion movement.
In explaining the bill before the vote, Iowa Republican Rep. Skyler Wheeler said it 鈥渟imply changes the words" of the law. But Democrats raised a recent Alabama case, warning that the proposed language would apply to embryos and therefore pose a risk to the procedure that become pregnant.
Republican Sen. Brad Zaun, who leads the Senate judiciary committee, did not assign the bill to a subcommittee because he was concerned about the 鈥渦nintended consequences鈥� for IVF, he told reporters.
After the Senate rejected the bill, the chair of the House judiciary committee, Rep. Steven Holt, said they did not believe IVF was at risk because of differences in Iowa and Alabama's constitutions. Still, Holt said, he understood the concerns and said it's 鈥渃ertainly a discussion we鈥檝e got to have before we would move it on" in the future.
The majority ruling of Alabama鈥檚 Supreme Court treated an embryo the same as a child or gestating fetus under the state鈥檚 wrongful death law, explicitly stating 鈥渦nborn children are 鈥榗hildren.鈥欌�� That led three major providers of IVF in Alabama to pause services because of concerns about liabilities.
have since that IVF providers are protected from liability related to the destruction of or damage to an embryo.
Democratic Rep. Jennifer Konfrst criticized House Republicans for the initial denial that IVF was at stake, which Democrats had warned before it passed.
鈥淭hey got caught running a bill that did more than they said. They mocked us when we said it did that. And then other Republicans pulled the bill because it did just what we said,鈥� Konfrst told reporters Thursday. 鈥淭hat is politics at its worst.鈥�
Hannah Fingerhut, The Associated Press
