House votes to raise penalty for killing an 'unborn person.' Democrats say it endangers IVF.

Iowans would face more prison time for ending a pregnancy without consent under a bill that passed the House Thursday but that Democrats warn would treat embryos as people and endanger medical procedures such as in vitro fertilization.

Democrats repeatedly raised concerns that the bill could jeopardize in vitro fertilization treatment in Iowa after a state Supreme Court ruling in Alabama last month found that embryos frozen as part of the IVF process are legally protected as children.

The ruling caused several clinics in the state to halt IVF treatments. Alabama lawmakers passed legislation Wednesday protecting IVF clinics and doctors from civil and criminal liability.

"When the Alabama Supreme Court defined an embryo as a child, it created chaos in the legal system and stopped in vitro fertilization in Alabama," said Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames. "This bill will create the same chaos in Iowa, limiting the ability for Iowans to build their families and their futures."

The bill's floor manager, Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, dismissed the Democrats' arguments as "madness." He said the measure simply increases penalties for crimes that already exist under Iowa law.

"This bill is very simple," he said. "It increases penalties for crimes that are ridiculous. Killing a mother and/or her unborn baby. You should face some pretty stiff penalties for that."

House lawmakers voted 58-36 Thursday to pass House File 2575. Two Republicans, Reps. Mark Cisneros, R-Muscatine, and Brian Lohse, R-Bondurant, joined every Democrat in opposition. All other Republicans were in favor.

The vote sends the bill to the Iowa Senate.

The bill would increase the penalties for terminating a person's pregnancy without their consent. And it changes the phrase "terminates a human pregnancy," which exists in the current law, to "causes the death of an unborn person."

The bill defines “unborn person” as “an individual organism of the species homo sapiens from fertilization to live birth.”

Wheeler dismissed concerns that Iowa could see a situation like Alabama's. He said Iowa Code Chapters 146A and 146B, which apply to doctors performing abortions in Iowa, already define "unborn child" using the same language in the bill.

"This definition is currently in code," Wheeler said. "So if you were all worried about all these different things you bring up, you should have been worried about it a long time ago, because the definition already exists."

The crime does not apply to abortions performed with the consent of the pregnant person, in cases of medical procedures or to acts committed in self-defense if the acts are legally justified.

Several penalties of varying severity are laid out in the bill. In the most serious cases, someone could be convicted of a class A felony and sentenced to life in prison without parole if they intentionally end a pregnancy without the person's consent while committing a felony.

Other circumstances would carry different levels of punishment depending on the person's intentions and whether their actions result in the pregnancy being terminated or the "unborn person" being seriously injured.

The crime appears to be rare in Iowa. An analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency said there were no convictions or prison admissions for terminating a pregnancy in fiscal year 2023.

One person convicted of the crime received parole that year, the analysis said.

Iowa lawmakers passed a law last year that would ban nearly all abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. The law is currently blocked by the courts while a lawsuit is decided.

More: Iowa House votes to allow schools to show anti-abortion 'Baby Olivia' video in class

Republicans are also considering legislation this year that would require schools to show students in seventh grade through high school a computer-generated video detailing the stages of pregnancy. The bill specifies that the video be "comparable" to a video developed by an anti-abortion group that medical professionals say misleads viewers.

That bill passed in the House and is awaiting a vote in the Senate.

Mazie Stilwell, public affairs director for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa, issued a statement saying Republicans were ignoring more pressing health care issues to pass "reckless bills" that impact abortion.

"Iowa’s health care system has gone up in smoke and no one with power is even trying to put out the flames," she said. "Instead, Republicans who control our state government want to continue their far-reaching, long-term strategy to undermine the rights and well-being of pregnant Iowans."

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: House raises penalty for killing an 'unborn person' despite IVF fears