History is being forged before your very eyes.

By Maggie DeWitte

Iowa is once again leading the New Wave Movement of the 21st century with a social justice creed that emphasis LIFE with the passage of the Heartbeat Bill.

Last night, we witnessed high drama at the State House as the Heartbeat Bill was debated. The bill protects life of the pre-born when a heartbeat is detected. This occurs around the 6th week after fertilization.

To say that passions ran high is an understatement. One side insisted that human life is sacred and deserves protection when a heartbeat is detected.

The other side insisted that human life is conditional, and deserves no legal protections if she is unwanted.

The Heartbeat Bill passes!

In the end, the pro life position prevailed in the Iowa House, 51 to 46.

You can watch a quick excerpt of the debate below. Representative Shannon Lundgren speaks on behalf of the bill. Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell in speaks in opposition.

Iowans for LIFE fundamentally disagrees with Ms. Wessel-Kroeschell and her party in her characterization that human abortion is medical care. In almost all cases, it begins with a healthy mother carrying a healthy baby and ends up with a dead baby and an emotionally (and sometimes physically) scarred mother.

That’s certainly not healthcare.

Even more, Iowans for LIFE believes that social justice begins at fertilization and extends to natural death.

The Heartbeat Bill was slightly diluted with amendments that provide exceptions for rape, incest, and fetal abnormalities, exceptions IFL opposes. Sadly, the bill would not have passed without those exceptions this year.

Nonetheless, Iowa is once again leading the New Wave Movement of the 21st century with a social justice creed that emphasizes LIFE. To be clear, Iowans for LIFE embraces the same Social Justice Creed expressed by the Catholic Church.

It “proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society.”

The most pro life bill in the U.S.

The Heartbeat Bill is the most pro life bill passed by any state legislature in the United States.

It comes just a year after the passage of the landmark 20 Week Bill.

The sweep of history is on the side of LIFE. One state after another relentlessly expands the rights of the pre-born. 

From 2012 through 2016, state legislatures passed 334 pro life laws with another fifty added last year (according to the pro abortion Guttmacher Institute).

The Heartbeat Bill is the culmination of intense lobbying by the Iowa Pro Life coalition, of which Iowans for LIFE is a founding member.

To demonstrate the passion and commitment to the cause of life, every single member of this coalition was present at the Capitol last night at 2:30AM when the reconciled bill finally passed the Senate side!

Believe me, our legislators took note.

Believe me, they knew of the support for this bill because of the thousands of emails and letters they received, some of which were from you!

The New Wave Movement of the 21st Century.

You are part of a movement the likes of which America hasn’t seen since the slaves were freed. We call it the New Wave Movement of the 21st Century.

Think about it: the Emancipation Proclamation that at last extended God-given rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness to slaves was the defining moment of human liberty in the 19th century.

In the 20th century, the defining human liberty moment was the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1919 which gave women the right to vote.

And in the 21st century, pro-lifers wage a furious battle to extend human liberty to our pre-born brothers and sisters.

The Heartbeat Bill is a major victory. Now it goes to Governor Kim Reynolds for her signature.

Ironically, Democrats unanimously opposed the Heartbeat Bill just as their predecessors opposed the 15th Amendment (outlawing human slavery) and the 19th Amendment (giving women the right to vote).

Our work to advance human liberty is far from over. Yes, this bill will save something like 30,000 lives over the next decade. But thousands more will still fall victim to the scourge of human abortion.

60% of pro-choicers are open to more regulation on human abortion

What’s interesting about the New Wave Movement of the 21st century is how many people who self-identify as “pro choice” want to join the movement. Sixty percent welcome more protections for our pre-born brothers and sisters, even if they don’t support a full ban.

History is being forged before your very eyes with the passage of the Heartbeat Bill which extends more legal protection to the pre-born than any other state in the union.

Iowans for LIFE is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to protecting human life from fertilization to natural death.  To that end, we call on our friends on the other side of the aisle on this issue to get with the program.

Don’t once again be the party that obstructs human liberty.

Join the New Wave Movement of the 21st Century defined by a social justice creed that emphasizes LIFE.

Don’t let history once again pass you by.

[If you are as excited as I am about the passage of the Heartbeat Bill, I humbly ask for you to support Iowans for LIFE with a donation today. And be sure to reserve your table for our October 24th banquet today! ALL of our funding comes from faithful donors. Thank-you!]

[Thanks to Iowans for LIFE for permission to publish this blogpost.]