Taking a look at the recently approved physician guidelines for Iowa's blocked six-week abortion ban
Right now, abortion is legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. However, under the ban, waiting for the Iowa Supreme Court's decision, most abortions would be forbidden once a heartbeat is detected.
Right now, abortion is legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. However, under the ban, waiting for the Iowa Supreme Court's decision, most abortions would be forbidden once a heartbeat is detected.
Right now, abortion is legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. However, under the ban, waiting for the Iowa Supreme Court's decision, most abortions would be forbidden once a heartbeat is detected.
With the Iowa Board of Medicine approving some guidance in mid-February that physicians would need to follow if the injunction on the state’s six-week abortion ban is lifted, people are looking into what it could mean for women in Iowa.
Right now, abortion is legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. However, under the ban, waiting for the Iowa Supreme Court's decision, most abortions would be forbidden once a heartbeat is detected.
There are exceptions with conditions such as incest, rape, a fetal abnormality impacting life, and if a mother’s life is in danger.
Under the newly approved guidelines, physicians still have to gather information to determine whether a pregnancy is the result of incest or rape. The previous wording of the document made it so this information had to come from the patient who is seeking the abortion. However, the newly approved regulations do not “prescribe the manner in which the physician is to obtain this information.”
“We ask the questions that are medically necessary to understand the situation and understand how we can best provide clinical medical care to our patients,” said Dr. Emily Boevers, an obstetrician-gynecologist in rural Iowa. “We don't query patients about details of crimes or dates that things happened if it's not medically pertinent. We don't query patients about if they've reported crimes to different entities in the state. That’s not the role of a physician. The role of a physician is to understand the medical needs of our patients.”
Boevers told vlog that because the law had already passed, the board was limited in how they could adapt the rules. She notes the board made some changes in how some of the rules were worded and in how some of the actions that are required of physicians were worded. Boevers says those changes do a lot to protect the physician-patient relationship.
One thing physicians note the revised guidelines don’t do is specify how at-risk a patient must be for them to step in and perform an abortion if the mother’s health or life is on the line.
“Living in a world where we have to wait for somebody's health to critically worsen where their life might be at risk — ask rather than just take care of the patient who's in front of you based on shared decision making between a physician and a patient — that will certainly lead to worse health for Iowa's mothers,” Boevers said.
Some people say that these guidelines are good a good step, like Pulse Life Advocates executive director Magie DeWitte.
“We wanted to protect human life, and this will be a step forward in that direction,” DeWitte said.
DeWitte said she and her team have waited anxiously for these rules by the board, especially because of what it could mean if the Iowa Supreme Court upholds the six-week abortion ban.
“If the ruling goes our way, that means we’re able to move it much quicker through the process knowing these rules are already in place,” DeWitte said.
One concern shared by many is how little detail there is when it comes to repercussions physicians face if they don’t comply with the law.
The guidelines say, “Failure to comply with this rule or the requirements of Iowa Code section 146E may constitute grounds for discipline."
“Right now, it’s pretty vague as to what kind of discipline — if any — the doctors would receive if they don’t follow the law,” DeWitte said.
“Those rules we would anticipate would be enforced would be suspension of a license, loss of a license, and perhaps financial penalties. Those would be the things that we would expect to be done under current Iowa code,” Boevers said. “But if you were to step outside of the law by accident, and you know, be held accountable for something that a patient told you that ended up not being true — it would be uncertain how you could be penalized by the Board of Medicine. If you act in good faith, will you be penalized and lose your license?”
The guidelines will now head to the legislature’s Administrative Rules Committee.
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