DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The Latest on abortion restrictions being considered by the Iowa Legislature (all times local):
6:20 p.m.
A Senate committee in the Iowa Legislature has approved a bill that would ban most abortions in the state after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The Senate Human Resources Committee voted 9-3 in support of the measure. It’s now available for debate on the Senate floor.
The proposal advanced beyond a legislative procedural deadline this week that stopped a separate personhood bill from moving forward. That bill would have determined that life begins at conception and would have essentially banned abortion. It likely would have faced legal challenges.
The 20-week ban would include some exemptions. A pregnancy between 20 and 24 weeks could be terminated if the fetus had a fatal condition.
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4:45 p.m.
A legislative effort by Iowa Republicans to outlaw abortion in the state has failed to advance past a legislative procedural deadline.
The so-called personhood bill was kept off the agenda of a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting Thursday. The committee needed to vote on the measure for it to survive a deadline that requires certain legislative action on policy bills.
Republican Sen. Brad Zaun, committee chairman and co-sponsor of the bill, says he didn’t have enough votes to advance the legislation. Anti-abortion rights groups had rallied around the personhood bill this session amid new GOP control of the Legislature.
Republican lawmakers are still considering a separate bill that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. A Senate committee was meeting Thursday to vote on that bill.
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