Iowa Republicans back 'fetal heartbeat' abortion legislation

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republicans in the Iowa Legislature are backing newly filed legislation that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which would be the strictest ban in the country if enacted.

Democrats criticized the legislation in an afternoon press conference, though they don't have the legislative power to stop the bill's advancement.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland spokeswoman Rachel Lopez sent out a press release calling it the "most extreme and overreaching abortion legislation ever introduced in Iowa."

-State health officials would be required to make available to a woman seeking an abortion reading material that encourages adoption.

A handful of states have introduced heartbeat bills this year, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

The U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling established a nationwide right to abortion, though states were permitted to restrict abortions after viability — the point when the fetus has a reasonable chance of surviving under normal conditions outside the uterus.