Iowa’s heartbeat law reportedly contributed to a nearly 40 percent drop in abortions, according to a pro-abortion think tank.
The new data show a monthly average of 400 clinician-provided abortions in Iowa in the first six months of 2024. After the six-week ban went into effect on July 29, the number of abortions dropped to an estimated 250 in August, a decrease of 38% from the average over the first six months of the year.
However, this still means that every month, about 250 preborn human beings are killed in the womb. The law also shows that while heartbeat bans may reduce the killing of innocent life, they still often allow a majority of abortions.
Iowa’s heartbeat law, which generally prohibits abortion after six weeks, went into effect on July 29 following legal challenges. The law includes exceptions for rape, incest, allegedly fatal “fetal abnormalities,” and supposed threats to the mother’s life.
Pro-lifers, however, stress that the circumstances of conception do not determine someone’s moral worth and human rights. Furthermore, direct abortion is never medically necessary to save a woman’s life, as medical experts have confirmed, nor is it ever morally justifiable.
Other states have shown progress in reducing abortions with similar laws. In South Carolina, abortions dropped nearly 80% following its heartbeat ban. However, around 800 babies are still killed through abortion every month there.
The decrease in reported abortions cannot fully capture other circumstances, such as women who traveled to other states for abortions. “The decline in abortions provided in August likely reflects that some Iowa residents who were not able to receive an abortion under the newly imposed law traveled out of state for [abortions], while others may have been forced to continue their pregnancy,” the Guttmacher Institute commented on its website.
Other states have seen similar success in reducing reported abortions after implementing restrictions.
Abortions have dropped 98 percent in Indiana. The state generally bans abortions, although there are exceptions for rape, incest, and alleged “health” issues.
Arkansas also reported zero abortions in 2023, in contrast to more than 3,000 committed in 2021, the last full year that abortion was legal in the state.