Activists on both sides of the abortion debate crowded a committee room at the capitol Tuesday, weighing in on a bill critics call extreme and unprecedented.
Backers of the bill say it’s needed to prevent the sale or donation of fetal tissue.
An anti-abortion group last year released videos it said depicted Planned Parenthood of trying to sell fetal body parts. Federal law bans the sale of fetal remains, but the abortion provider was cleared of wrongdoing.
But Representative Sandy Salmon (Rep. Janesville) says under Iowa law fetal tissue could still be sold.
“Dead unborn infants’ bodily remains should not be exploited for scientific or financial gain,” Salmon says.
The bill which passed a Republican-dominated panel declares that life begins at conception. It would require a woman obtaining an abortion to signify how the remains should be disposed of, and would require death certificates for certain fetuses whether aborted or miscarried.
The bill also renames “fetus” in Iowa code as “unborn baby.”
In the Colorado case, the anti-abortion activist who infiltrated the clinic ended up facing charges instead of Planned Parenthood.
Critics say under Iowa law fetal remains are already disposed of under high medical standards. Erin Davisson-Rippey with Planned Parenthood sharply opposes the bill.
“The bill is rife with boilerplate language from an extreme anti-abortion organization,” Davisson-Rippey says, “that goes across the country with their extreme agenda in statehouse after statehouse.”
The funeral home industry is concerned about the bill, saying it would create awkward situations.
The issue of fetal remains has reverberated through the presidential campaign.