Please write or call Gov. Vilsack and ask him to veto the “fetus death” bill.
The Fetus Death Bill, which makes it a crime as serious as first-degree murder to kill an unborn child, has passed both the Iowa Senate and the Iowa House. The bill will briefly go back to the Senate due to a technicality, and then will land on the desk of Gov. Tom Vilsack. It is by no means certain that Gov. Vilsack will veto this bill, which chips away at reproductive rights and mirrors a bill passed recently by the extreme-right-wing-controlled Congress.
Some Democrats in the Iowa Legislature object to the bill on the grounds that it grants legal rights to a fetus – rights that are not granted in any other area. For example, a fetus cannot get a Social Security number and cannot be deducted on the parents' income tax forms. Read more about it here.
Call the Governors Office at (515) 281-5211.
Or write to:
Office of the Governor
State Capitol
Des Moines, IA 50319
Thank you for participating in Democracy.
Blog For Iowa 
Friends…Dawn M. Mueller (Cedar Rapids) here…
The following urgent request is from Karen Kubby, director of the Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City:
Friends of reproductive rights,
Please take the time to communicate to Governor Vilsack to veto the Unborn Victim of Violence Act, S.F. 2254, which was passed yesterday. Contact information is below.
This act changes the word “fetus” and replaces it with “unborn child” which would be defined as a person, that “includes a member of the species homo
sapiens, at ANY stage of development when carried in the womb or after birth (emphasis added).
This bill would create separate penalties for injury or death to the fetus, defining the fetus as a separate person. You can view S.F. 2254 at
http://www.legis.state.ia.us/GA/80GA/Legislation/SF/02200/SF02254/Current.html
Iowa law currently allows for a separate charge for the unlawful termination of pregnancy, a Class C felony.
The intention of this bill is not to create enhanced penalties for those who perpetrate violence against pregnant women. The intention of this bill is to begin the definition of the fetus as a person with full rights. Even though the bill provides an except for legal abortion, it can eventually lead to the US Supreme Court overturning Roe, which states that the fetus
is not be viewed as a person under the law.
Governor Vilsack needs to hear from us very soon. He might only have until next week to veto S.F. 2254.
Some talking points and then contact information:
1. Roe explicitly says that a fetus is not a person.
2. Iowa law already allows for a separate penalty for unlawful termination of pregnancy.
3. Enhanced penalties for violence against pregnant women is a better legal route for accountability than creating fetal personhood that can lead to erosion of women's rights in the future.
“Please veto the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Iowa already allows for a separate penalty for unlawfully terminating a pregnancy, a class c felony.
Signing this bill does nothing to further accountability to those who are violent towards pregnant women. What it does is create a legal conversation to create fetal rights, which will eventually make women invisible and unable to lawfully control their fertility.”
The Honorable Tom Vilsack
Governor
State Capitol
Des Moines, IA 50319
(515) 281-5211
http://www.governor.state.ia.us/comments/capitol_correspond/index.html
Thank you in advance for taking swift action today.
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I just sent an email to Governor Vilsack asking him to veto the legislation referred to above. I do hope my statement helps him decide correctly.
Gloral
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