i9 Fact Checker: Rep. Hinson’s support for an abortion ban with no exceptions is accurate

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Democrats across the country are using reproductive rights as an election issue against Republicans after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which gave women the federal right to have an abortion.

Source: Liz Mathis for Congress

State Senator Liz Mathis (D-Cedar Rapids), who is running against Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-01) for a seat in congress, is spending $675,000 on an ad called “Freedom”. The ad argues Rep. Hinson’s position on abortion would remove rights from women using two pieces of legislation.

Claim #1: “Hinson’s bill bans all abortions nationwide with no exceptions for rape, incest or to save a woman’s life.”

Analysis: Text on the screen adds that Rep. Hinson co-sponsored the bill calling for the national abortion ban, warning it could become law given the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.

The ad is referencing two bills.

In February 2021, Rep. Hinson also cosponsored the Life at Conception Act. That bill, according to the congressional research service, would give the right to life at fertilization and effectively make abortion illegal. This bill contains no exceptions and said a woman should not be prosecuted for the death of her unborn child. However, some legal experts have argued that giving an unborn fetus status as a person could open the door to providers facing criminal homicide charges for an abortion.

The more recent bill is the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children Act, which Senator Lindsey Graham (R, South Carolina) first introduced in the Senate last month. That bill stops doctors across the country from performing abortions after 15 weeks, except in situations involving rape, incest or risks to the life and physical health of the mother. It also creates punishments, up to five years in prison, for doctors performing the procedure after 15 weeks. Rep. Hinson is a cosponsor on the House of Representatives version of the bill.

Hinson also supported exceptions for cases of rape, incest or to protect her mother’s life before she was in Congress, voting for the state’s fetal heartbeat bill in 2018. The Iowa Supreme Court blocked that law from taking effect but Governor Kim Reynolds is pushing to reinstate it given the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Conclusion: Rep. Hinson has a long history of pushing to limit or ban abortions but has frequently supported exceptions for rape, incest or to save the life of the mother, including her most recent bill.

However, she co-sponsored a bill just last year that would effectively make abortions illegal nationwide with no specific exceptions given. That’s why this ad gets an A.

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