The Iowa fetus is becoming an endangered species

Iowa fetusThe Iowa Fetus is becoming endangered. The replacement birthrate in the Hawkeye State has been below replacement level since 2009.

The replacement birthrate in developed nations is 2.1 births per woman, but here in Iowa, the rate had dropped to 1.99 by 2016.

Our population growth is stagnant. Small towns are drying up, and what little growth we’ve experienced in recent decades has been through immigration.

The Heartbeat Bill will help

A bill before the Iowa legislature (SSB 3143) would ban human abortion once a heartbeat is detectable in an Iowan Fetus. As you can guess, support falls pretty much along party lines, with Republicans largely supporting the bill and Democrats vigorously opposing any legal protections for the Iowa Fetus.

The Iowa Code DOES protect some life

By contrast, sections 481A and B in the Iowa Administrative Code do sanction you for killing life in Iowa to the tune of $1000 per life. Here is a partial list of some life forms protected by law here in Iowa:

√ Indiana Bat

√ Plains Pocket Mouse

√ Spotted Skunk

√ Common Barn Owl

√ Piping Plover

√ Iowa Pleistocene Land Snail

Iowa law even protects an expansive list of plant life, such as the sumpweed.

Here’s the question …

Here’s the obvious question: isn’t a human being worth more than a skunk? Or a snail? Or a rodent?

The list of protected species above enjoys bi-partisan support. Why not the Iowa Fetus, which has become endangered in recent years?

The Iowa Fetus is in the early stages of the arc of its life, but it will become the people who build our roads, cure our sick, and take care of the elderly tomorrow.

These are the people who will not only feed Iowans, but the entire world.

We need them.

Opponents of the bill insist that the Heartbeat Bill infringes on a woman’s “right to privacy” as defined by Roe V Wade. And yet the Iowa Administrative  Code will fine you even if you kill a spotted skunk in your own backyard, privacy be damned.

Opponents of the Heartbeat Bill correctly observe that a woman’s body isn’t the same as your private property. And yet if someone kills the Iowa Fetus against the mother’s will, the state will treat the fetus as a person and the crime as a homicide.

How can the same fetus be considered a person in one breath and a disposable clump of cells inferior to a spotted skunk in the next?

The Heartbeat Bill recognizes the intrinsic dignity of human life. The bill was passed in a Senate sub-committee by an 8 to 5 vote this week. It will most likely be debated on the Senate floor next week.

If you think the Iowa Fetus deserves the same legal protection as a Spotted Skunk, contact your State Legislators immediately.

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