State Representative Michael Bergan says the discussion of legislation to ban abortions after 20 weeks was difficult

The Iowa House of Representatives has passed a revised version of Iowa Senate File 471, a bill that bans abortions after 20 weeks from conception.  The bill now goes back to the Iowa Senate for reconciliation.

Says Bergan, "The bill is a culmination of compromise on positions of competing rights of the mother and the unborn child; a compromise that I hope proponents on both sides of the issue consider a reasonable step forward.  The amendments made to the Senate bill removed the imposition of felony criminal penalties against women having abortions at 20 weeks."

Bergan says he voted in favor of the legislation because, "This legislation will align our statute with existing civil law established by our federal court system in other jurisdictions."  He notes that similar legislation has been approved in 15 other states and upheld by the courts in eleven of those States.