Planned Parenthood – which argues there is “no such thing” as late-term abortion and that terminations should be allowed up to birth – is furious that Iowa’s legislature has passed new abortion restrictions, which the state governor will sign into law on Friday.
The legislation prohibits abortions after the unborn child’s heart begins beating – around six weeks – with exceptions for rape, incest, fetal abnormalities “incompatible with life”, as well as threats to the life of health of the mother.
But instead of welcoming the exceptions – which abortion advocates often claim as their major problem with the political right’s position on the matter – the nation’s largest abortion provider Planned Parenthood is freaking out.
Planned Parenthood North Central States called the restrictions an attack “on reproductive freedom” and promised to fight them in the courts.
“[O]ut-of- touch politicians have inserted themselves into the exam rooms of Iowans, who no longer have control over their bodies and futures because of an unpopular, narrow political agenda,” complained chief executive Ruth Richardson.
“Planned Parenthood will not stand for this,” concurred Alexis McGill Johnson, who leads the wider Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
The organization is not a disinterested party when it comes to abortion access, being the single largest provider of abortions in the country. Many of its executives, including Johnson, profit handsomely from its work, taking home substantial six-figure salaries.
