Iowa GOP gearing up to follow Nebraska’s lead to ban abortion on the basis of fetal pain

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http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/iowa-lawmakers-move-to-shut-out-carhart-with-fetal-pain-bill/

Iowa lawmakers move to shut out Carhart with fetal pain bill

by Peter Smith

DES MOINES, Iowa, December 10, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Iowa lawmakers are gearing up to follow Nebraska’s lead and pass a bill that would ban abortion on the basis of fetal pain. The move comes as a response to late-term abortionist Leroy Carhart’s plans to relocate some of his late-term abortion business from Nebraska just across the state border to Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The Nebraska law, which went into effect on October 15, bans abortions after 20 weeks of post-fertilization age on the basis that the unborn child feels pain definitely by that stage, if not earlier. Some research has even suggested that fetal pain may be more acute than it would be for older human beings, as the immature nervous system of the unborn child have not developed coping mechanisms.

Abortion advocates have not yet filed a legal challenge to the Nebraska law, likely in part due to uncertainty about how the U.S. Supreme Court would rule on the issue. Were the Court to rule in favor of the law, it could spell the end of the viability standard and replace it with a fetal pain standard, which would restrict abortion to about 20 weeks.

With Republicans having taken control of the Iowa House and narrowed the gap in the Senate, pro-life legislators are seeking to take advantage of the opportunity to pass pro-life legislation, with the immediate concern being Carhart.