House File 732 - Enrolled
House File 732
AN ACT
PROHIBITING AND REQUIRING CERTAIN ACTIONS RELATING TO ABORTION
INVOLVING THE DETECTION OF A FETAL HEARTBEAT, AND INCLUDING
EFFECTIVE DATE PROVISIONS.
4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
1 Section 1. NEW SECTION. 146E.1 Definitions.
2 As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise
3 requires:
4 1. “Abortion” means the termination of a human pregnancy
5 with the intent other than to produce a live birth or to remove
6 a dead fetus.
7 2. “Fetal heartbeat” means cardiac activity, the steady and
8 repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the
9 gestational sac.
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10 3. “Fetal heartbeat exception” means any of the following:
11 a. The pregnancy is the result of a rape which is reported
12 within forty-five days of the incident to a law enforcement
13 agency or to a public or private health agency which may
14 include a family physician.
15 b. The pregnancy is the result of incest which is reported
16 within one hundred forty days of the incident to a law
17 enforcement agency or to a public or private health agency
18 which may include a family physician.
19 c. Any spontaneous abortion, commonly known as a
20 miscarriage, if not all of the products of conception are
21 expelled.
22 d. The attending physician certifies that the fetus has a
23 fetal abnormality that in the physician’s reasonable medical
24 judgment is incompatible with life.
25 4. “Medical emergency” means the same as defined in section
26 146A.1.
27 5. “Physician” means a person licensed under chapter 148.
28 6. “Reasonable medical judgment” means a medical judgment
29 made by a reasonably prudent physician who is knowledgeable
30 about the case and the treatment possibilities with respect to
31 the medical conditions involved.
32 7. “Unborn child” means the same as defined in section
33 146A.1.
34 Sec. 2. NEW SECTION. 146E.2 Abortion prohibited ——
35 detectable fetal heartbeat.
1 1. Except in the case of a medical emergency or fetal
2 heartbeat exception, a physician shall not perform an abortion
3 unless the physician has first complied with the prerequisites
4 of chapter 146A and has tested the pregnant woman as specified
5 in this subsection, to determine if a fetal heartbeat is
6 detectable.
7 a. In testing for a detectable fetal heartbeat, the
8 physician shall perform an abdominal ultrasound, necessary to
9 detect a fetal heartbeat according to standard medical practice
10 and including the use of medical devices, as determined by
11 standard medical practice and specified by rule of the board
12 of medicine.
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13 b. Following the testing of the pregnant woman for a
14 detectable fetal heartbeat, the physician shall inform the
15 pregnant woman, in writing, of all of the following:
16 (1) Whether a fetal heartbeat was detected.
17 (2) That if a fetal heartbeat was detected, an abortion is
18 prohibited.
19 c. Upon receipt of the written information, the pregnant
20 woman shall sign a form acknowledging that the pregnant woman
21 has received the information as required under this subsection.
22 2. a. A physician shall not perform an abortion upon a
23 pregnant woman when it has been determined that the unborn
24 child has a detectable fetal heartbeat, unless, in the
25 physician’s reasonable medical judgment, a medical emergency or
26 fetal heartbeat exception exists.
27 b. Notwithstanding paragraph “a”, if a physician determines
28 that the probable postfertilization age, as defined in
29 section 146B.1, of the unborn child is twenty or more weeks,
30 the physician shall not perform an abortion upon a pregnant
31 woman when it has been determined that the unborn child
32 has a detectable fetal heartbeat, unless in the physician’s
33 reasonable medical judgment the pregnant woman has a condition
34 which the physician deems a medical emergency, as defined in
35 section 146B.1, or the abortion is necessary to preserve the
1 life of an unborn child.
2 3. A physician shall retain in the woman’s medical record
3 all of the following:
4 a. Documentation of the testing for a fetal heartbeat
5 as specified in subsection 1 and the results of the fetal
6 heartbeat test.
7 b. The pregnant woman’s signed form acknowledging that
8 the pregnant woman received the information as required under
9 subsection 1.
10 4. This section shall not be construed to impose civil
11 or criminal liability on a woman upon whom an abortion is
12 performed in violation of this section.
13 5. The board of medicine shall adopt rules pursuant to
14 chapter 17A to administer this section.
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15 Sec. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act, being deemed of immediate
16 importance, takes effect upon enactment.
______________________________ ______________________________
PAT GRASSLEY AMY SINCLAIR
Speaker of the House President of the Senate
I hereby certify that this bill originated in the House and
is known as House File 732, Ninetieth General Assembly.
______________________________
MEGHAN NELSON
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved _______________, 2023 ______________________________
KIM REYNOLDS
Governor