VP Harris slams ‘Trump abortion ban’ in Iowa

Vice President Kamala Harris is making an Iowa law that went into effect this morning part of her campaign against former President Donald Trump.

“Today, Iowa passed a Trump abortion ban, making Iowa the 22nd state in our country to pass a Trump abortion ban,” Harris said in a campaign video, “and this ban goes into effect before many women even know they are pregnant.”

Iowa’s law bans abortions after fetal activity can be detected, which is around the sixth week of pregnancy. “One in three women of childbearing age in America lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban,” Harris said, “so what we need to do is vote, because I’m going to tell you something, when I’m president of the United States, I will sign protections for reproductive freedom into law.”

Trump called Harris “an absolute radical on abortion” at a rally in Minnesota on Saturday. Trump appointed three of the six justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, and Trump has said the ruling leaves it up to states to set their own abortion policies.

For the past 40 years, the Republican Party’s national party platform has called for federal restrictions on abortion, but Trump’s campaign led the development of the party’s 2024 platform, which states that the abortion issue should be left up to the states.

Harris visited Iowa last July, two weeks after Gov. Reynolds signed the “fetal heartbeat” bill into law. “As I travel around the country, it’s clear to me that so many people in these state legislatures don’t even know how women’s bodies work,” Harris told an audience in Des Moines.

Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, issued a written statement this morning after Iowa’s abortion restrictions went into effect. “As a father of four and a Christian, I believe that unborn life must be protected. My faith teaches me that every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and that every person deserves the opportunity to advance God’s kingdom,” Feenstra said.

Also this morning, the Iowa Democratic Party hosted an online forum with a Des Moines physician who said the bill will exacerbate the loss of gynecologists in Iowa, especially in rural Iowa.