A Democratic lawmaker introduced a bill today aimed at blocking a proposed abortion clinic in Council Bluffs by requiring the facility to meet certificate-of-need requirements under state health laws.
Sen. Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City said he believes his proposal, Senate Study Bill 1212, would set a standard that could not be met by Dr. LeRoy Carhart, who announced last November that he plans to open a so-called late-term abortion clinic in Council Bluffs.
Iowa Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, an advocate of abortion rights, has been under pressure from some Council Bluffs residents to block the abortion clinic. In addition, 26 members of the Iowa Senate recently signed a so-called “discharge petition” in an effort to force a debate on another bill that would ban most abortions in Iowa after 20 weeks gestation in an effort to halt Carhart’s plans.
Bolkcom’s proposal is aimed at offering a compromise on the contentious issue without dramatically making major changes in Iowa’s abortion laws.
Maggie DeWitte, executive director of Iowans for Life, which opposes abortion, said that Bolkcom’s proposal meets one of her organization’s key objectives.
“Obviously, the goal is to keep Carhart out of Council Bluffs,” DeWitte said. But she said she still strongly believes lawmakers should approve a bill to ban most abortions after 20 weeks.
Bolkcom said his bill would use the certificate-of- need process to ensure that a new abortion facility which performs abortions after 20 weeks post-fertilization is in close proximity to an Iowa hospital with the appropriate level of perinatal care to protect the life or health of the woman and the fetus.
There is no hospital in Council Bluffs that meets the standard established by his proposal, Bolkcom said. The only Iowa hospitals that would meet the requirements are in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Iowa City, he said. The bill would not allow a Council Bluffs abortion facility to use nearby hospitals in Omaha, Neb., to meet the requirements, he added.
“This bill protects the life and health of the mother and the fetus when a woman is faced with this terrible choice. What it doesn’t do is meddle in a family’s gut-wrenching decision about what to do when a planned pregnancy goes terribly wrong,” Bolkcom said.
He added,“As we engage in this debate, we need to be honest about the circumstances under which a woman pursues these procedures. In 2009, there were only 6 abortions in Iowa that occurred after 20 weeks, and all of them involved some kind of medical complication.”
Bolkcom said a subcommittee meeting is scheduled on this bill Thursday afternoon.
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