Following the chaos that unfolded when Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled frozen embryos are legally children, many are watching a bill in Iowa closely as its passage could impact in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics in the state, too.
On Thursday, Iowa House Republicans approved a bill that would criminalize the death of an “unborn person.” Currently the state Iaw has penalties for terminating or causing a serious injury to a “human pregnancy,” but the bill would amend the language from “human pregnancy” to an “unborn person.” The proposed language change, if the bills passes, would read: “causing of death of, or serious injury to, an unborn person." An “unborn person” would be defined as “an individual organism from fertilization to live birth.” While it still has to pass the state senate and be signed by the state’s governor, democrats are worried this could affect IVF clinics and patients similarly to what’s going on in Alabama.
