DES MOINES, Iowa, May 16, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Debate and drama ensued in the Iowa Senate late last Thursday night over two competing abortion bills, both designed to prohibit late-term abortionist Leroy Carhart from setting up a facility in the state’s Council Bluffs region. Discussion will begin again today.
The majority of Senators have already signed a petition to vote on a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks, when unborn babies are known to feel pain. House File 657 was proposed last fall as a measure to shut Carhart out of Iowa where he had announced plans for a late-term abortion facility in Council Bluffs.
Despite overwhelming support from legislators, Council Bluffs’ citizens and mayor, two Democrat Senators have stalled debate and votes on HF 657 to put forward their own bill, which would prevent Carhart from setting up in Council Bluffs, but open the doors for his and Planned Parenthood’s late-term abortion businesses elsewhere in the state.
Democrat Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City introduced the new proposal in an effort to replace HF 657. The proposal allows late-term abortion facilities only “in proximity” to qualifying hospitals with specific care. Although Council Bluffs would not qualify, at least four other cities would.
“This bill protects the life and health of the mother and the fetus, when a woman is faced with this terrible choice,” claimed Bolkcom. “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.”
Yet, Iowa Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley said it is “doing nothing but giving cover” on a controversial issue. ”Make no mistake: The bill by Joe Bolkcom does absolutely nothing to ban late-term abortions in Iowa,” McKinley told Iowa Politics.
Meanwhile Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, representative for Council Bluffs, has commended Bolkcom’s counter-proposal, despite tremendous pressure from his own constituents to push forward HF 657.
Gronstal, who does support abortion yet does not want a Carhart clinic in his own Council Bluffs, appointed Bolkcom floor manager of HF 657, the original bill; but Bolkcom has refused to call up HF 657 for debate, essentially keeping the way clear for his own proposal.
According to pro-life watchdog Operation Rescue, Bolkcom’s bill “would make it more difficult, but not impossible” for Cahart’s business in Iowa. “The language actually protects and encourages a late-term abortion business, especially in Iowa City where late-term abortions are already being done on a small scale,” reported Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Policy Advisor for Operation Rescue.
“Bolkcom is attempting to deny that market share to Carhart while protecting it for his cronies at the Emma Goldman clinic and his campaign contributors at Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, which is on currently on an abortion expansion binge,” said Sullenger. Sullenger pointed out that Bolkcom’s wife is the former director of the Emma Goldman abortion clinic in Iowa City and Planned Parenthood is one of his campaign contributors.
“In fact, Bolkcom’s bill has nothing to do with protecting women but rather endangers them,” added Sullenger, “This is really about who gets to claim the lucrative late-term abortion market share, where abortion fees have been known to range from around $5,000 to over $20,000.”
Bolkcom’s claim that late-term abortions were only performed on 6 women in 2009 to save their lives is “misleading,” according to Operation Rescue president, Troy Newman, who has investigated Carhart and late-term abortion facts for years.
“Bolkcom is misleading the people as to the true reasons why women have late-term abortions. In the long history of such abortions in Kansas, there has never been a single incident where a woman received a late-term abortion to save her life. Not one,” said Newman. “In my opinion, Bolkcom is a corrupt politician that is trying to dupe a person into believing something that is just not true.”
“What is going on in Iowa is a travesty and represents an extreme case of pandering to special interests in the abortion cartel while completely disregarding the will of the people,” he said. “Our government is supposed to be a representative Republic where the people elect men and women to represent their voices in government.”
“Gronstal and Bolkcom operate under another system that places their personal ideology and that of their political cronies above the will of the people… It’s insulting, unethical, and just plain wrong.”
Operation Rescue encouraged pro-lifers to contact Senators Gronstal and Bolkcom to demand they push vote on HF 657, the 20 week abortion ban or fetal pain bill.
Contacts information:
Sen. Mike Gronstal: [email protected]
Sen. Joe Bolkcom: [email protected]