Iowa: Pro-Lifers Join Planned Parenthood to Defeat Bill Stopping Abortions

State   |   Norm Pawlewski   |   Mar 27, 2013   |   10:06AM   |   Des Moines, IA

The first funnel date came and went and all pro-life bills went with it.  We didn’t expect that any of the “life at conception” bills or any of the limits on abortion would make it to the calendar in either chamber.  We had hoped to at least get the web-cam abortion bill through the committee process and on the House calendar.

HF 173 would require a physician who performs a “medical abortion” to do so only in person and in a location “with the capacity to provide surgical intervention in cases resulting in an incomplete abortion or severe bleeding.”  The bill was mischaracterized by both abortion foes and abortion supporters alike.  We expected abortion supporters, including Planned Parenthood, to oppose the bill.
Planned Parenthood does about one half of its abortions, around 2,000 per year, by web-camera, without a physician being physically present.  The intent of the bill was to stop Planned Parenthood from performing these abortions.  Physicians already have the right to perform “medical or chemical” abortions as well as surgical abortions.  The bill was not legalizing anything that is not now permitted by the FDA’s approval of RU-486.

An organization, claiming a more perfect “Bible worldview” on the life issue, aligned itself with the opponents of the bill to help kill it.  The following organizations registered AGAINST HF 173:  Iowa Pro-Life Action, Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence, The Iowa Clinic, P.C., Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Family Planning Council of Iowa, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa (ACLU-IA).

The following organizations registered FOR HF 173: Iowa Property Rights Council, Concerned Christian Americans, Iowa Right to Life Committee, Concerned Women for America of Iowa, The Family Leader, The Family Leader Foundation, Americans United for Life, Iowa Catholic Conference and Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition.

HF 173 which was passed by a Human Resources Committee subcommittee was not considered by the full committee and, therefore, died.  We were told by leadership that there were not enough votes on the full committee to pass the bill onto the calendar.  One reason for that was the strong opposition to the bill by two Republican House members.

These Representatives claimed the bill was putting abortion into the Iowa Code for the first time (Abortion is referred to in the code in at least 5 different sections.) They may also have agreed with critics of HF 173 who, in an unwarranted, untrue, and un-Christian attack letter distributed in Rep. Matt Windschitl’s (R) district, stated the following about HF 173:

“This year Matt Windschitl introduced HF 173 which he says will stop a handful of abortions.” (More than 2,000 is a handful?)

“But, while I think Matt still means well, this bill is the worst thing I’ve seen in several years.”  (If the critic had spent any time at the Capitol, I’m sure they would have seen a number of bad bills.)

“That’s because HF 173 would also:

  • Specifically authorize doctors how and when to conduct medical abortions, thereby legalizing abortions legislatively for the first time in Iowa history.”

Not true.  There are several references to the provision of abortion in the Iowa Code.  This bill would regulate what is already a legal medical procedure.  That’s why a physician organization registered and spoke against HF 173 at the subcommittee meeting.

  • “Allow abortionists to use nasty ‘chemical abortions’ like RU-486 to kill unborn babies.”

As I stated before, physicians already can prescribe RU-486.  HF 173 would prohibit the use of telemedicine, prescribing a miscarriage-producing drug by computer Skyping as Planned Parenthood is now doing in rural Iowa.

  • “Make it harder to pass Life at Conception/Personhood bills here in Iowa by establishing legal roadblocks like this.”
Totally false.  HF 173 would be no hindrance to a personhood or any other pro-life bill.  At the same time Rep. Windschitl and 15 other Republicans submitted HF 173, he and 11 other Republicans introduced HF 171:  “An Act relating to the definition of person under the criminal code.”  If HF 171 had passed and become law, HF 173 would be unnecessary and moot.

As you can guess from this report, I am very frustrated and disappointed with what is going on in regard to the right to life battle at the Capitol.  Christians are calling other Christians’ faith and obedience to Christ into question simply because they disagree on tactics and process.  Some are purposely misleading the supporters of the pro-life movement, insulting pro-life warriors of long standing, and exaggerating their own efforts to save the unborn.  To be blunt, I think it’s more about them than the babies.  When I see them, as I have seen many of the people they are savaging and demeaning, on their knees outside an abortion facility praying for God to stop the murder, I may give them some of my attention.

Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition and Iowa Right to Life believe that life begins at conception, that it comes from our Creator and not the state.  That, except for rare instances where the mother is in jeopardy of losing her life, we expect a treating physician to abort as a last resort after trying his or her best to save both lives.  We do not consider rape and incest a valid exception to the recognition of personhood and do not endorse candidates who hold rape and incest as a valid exception.

We support without reservation the establishing of “personhood” from conception to natural death into both federal and state law.  However, we reject the notion that we should allow the killing of all the unborn until we can save all the unborn.  We will pursue legislation to thwart the killers at every turn.  Passing a “personhood” bill cannot be a prerequisite to the passing of other pro-life legislation.

CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!

 

If you have any questions about what I have written here about any of the organizations involved, I suggest you go to their web sites or contact me.  I will be happy to assist you in getting the facts, not the hype, fiction, or self-aggrandizement.

Currently, in regard to abortion, Iowa is the most liberal state in the union.  Let me repeat that another way.  Iowa has the most liberal abortion laws in this country.  Abortion is legal, with fewer exceptions than even liberal New York.

I will be seventy-nine years old this May.  Time for me is getting short.  I would like to see Iowa live up to its reputation as a state that respects and protects life.  It currently does not.

LifeNews Note: Norm Pawlewski is the lobbyist for Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition and Iowa Right to Life.