Iowa`s Republican-controlled legislature passed the most restrictive abortion ban in the United States on Wednesday May 02,2018, outlawing the procedure after a fetal heartbeat is detected, often at six weeks and before a woman realizes she is pregnant.
The newest Iowa bill, which the state Senate passed early Wednesday after overnight wrangling by lawmakers, requires any woman seeking an abortion to undergo an abdominal ultrasound to screen for a fetal heartbeat.
If one is detected, healthcare providers are barred from performing an abortion.
Among the few exceptions are if the woman was raped or a victim of incest and has reported that to authorities.
The bill would ban most abortions in the state and was passed in the final days of the Iowa legislative session.
The Senate voted 29-17 to pass the House of Representatives-approved bill, according to the legislature`s online voting tallies.
The bill now goes to Republican Governor Kim Reynolds, an abortion opponent, who has not said publicly whether she will sign it into law.
The legislation is aimed at triggering a challenge to Roe v Wade, the US Supreme Court`s 1973 landmark decision which established that women have a constitutional right to an abortion, activists on both sides of the issue said.
Abortion opponents aim to land abortion questions back in front of the nation`s top court, where they believe the 5-4 conservative majority could sharply curtail abortion access or ban it outright
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