This weekend, Iowa Rep. Tom Shaw announced he intends to ask for a suspension of the rules to allow House File 138 to come out of committee to the floor for a vote.
The bill would drastically alter the landscape in Iowa with regard to abortion by first legislatively defining what a person is with regard to the crime of murder. It would then apply murder as a crime for any act that intentionally ends a pregnancy.
“While Wilberforce was speaking to the British Parliament about slavery, I believe that when you read this excerpt from his oratory you can make the connection to how I feel about the murder of innocent persons and why this procedural motion must be used,” he told his constituents and friends via Facebook. ”It is time to put up or shut up, to act and not merely talk.”
The quote he referenced is this one:
Sir, the nature and all the circumstances of this trade are now laid open to us. We can no longer plead ignorance, we cannot evade it, it is now an object placed before us, we cannot pass it. We may spurn it, we may kick it out of our way, but we cannot turn aside so as to avoid seeing it.
For it is brought now so directly before our eyes that this House must decide, and must justify to the world, and to their own consciences, the rectitude of their grounds and of the principles of their decision … Let not Parliament be the only body that is insensible to national justice.
You can read the full bill here.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Hoefling, a friend and supporter of Rep. Shaw, has already taken a position on the bill, calling it “the best pro-life legislation in the history of the United States.” He then added, “And that is not hyperbole.”
It’s certainly a tidy bill. It quickly uses a scalpel to remove all references to the legality of abortion procedures. It succinctly defines a person as any human being, regardless of his or her developmental stage, beginning at the moment a zygote is created (reading here, you know that’s where I stand on the topic of when life begins).
It also includes severability, which means if any small piece of the law is ruled unconstitutional, the remainder of the law remains intact.
There will be at least one pivotal moment when he makes this request, that is when the House must vote whether or not to suspend the rules. At that moment, we will learn the hearts and minds of Iowa’s elected representatives.
Republicans control the House, and the Republican Party platform calls for the end of abortion. We’re going to find out just how many among the Grand Old Party’s leaders really want to abolish abortion in our state.
I will be watching. I’m fairly sure a good number of conservatives will be watching, as well.
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Iowans can call 515-281-3221 and instruct their state representative to support Shaw’s Life at Conception legislation.
Ask your state’s leaders how they’re actively standing for all life…before they vie for your vote in the next election.
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