Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signs law at FAMiLY Leadership Summit banning most abortions after six weeks

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill banning most abortions after a detectable heartbeat while the Republican leader was on stage at the FAMiLY Leadership Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, Friday afternoon.

"This week, in a rare and historic special session, the Iowa legislature voted for a second time, to reject the inhumanity of abortion and pass the fetal heartbeat law," Gov. Reynolds said on stage at the Summit, days after convening a special session of Iowa's legislature to pass the historic fetal heartbeat legislation.

"Everyone understands that a heartbeat signifies life, and we understand that when it falls silent, something precious has been lost," Reynolds said.

"We have a responsibility not only to protect the unborn, but to change the destructive culture of abortion that still exists in a post-Roe world."

"For the last five years, our battleground has been the courts," Gov. Reynolds also said, speaking of a lengthy battle in the Hawkeye State to enact pro-life legislation.

"[Iowa's Supreme Court] expressed uncertainty that such a law would pass today, post-Roe, as if the politics of the day would change our view on life. They were wrong,"

Reynolds invited the legislators in attendance at the conference onto the stage for the special signing.

"As we gather here today at this very moment, the abortion industry is in the court trying to prevent this law from taking effect, and stop, once again, the will of the people."

"But the passage of this law, by even a wider margin, this time sends an unmistakable message."

"Make no mistake. Almost without exception, Democrats believe in abortion on demand up until the very moment of birth," Reynolds said, noting that Democrats, as opposed to Republicans, are rarely asked to specify at what point they believe an unborn baby deserves protection.

"She is arguably the best governor in the country," said the FAMiLY Leader CEO Bob Vander Plaats, also joking about other states having "governor envy."

Vander Plaats showed the audience a gift, wrapped in baby shower wrapping paper, in which he said was the flag that flew over Iowa's Capitol when the heartbeat bill passed.

The six-week "fetal heartbeat" abortion ban was passed in a marathon special session Tuesday. The bill went into effect immediately after Reynolds' signature.

"In spite of the fact that Iowans keep electing pro-life legislators with increasing majorities, the laws protecting our unborn children have lagged behind those of most other U.S. states, and even Europe," Pulse Life Advocates executive director Maggie DeWitte wrote in an op-ed Friday in the Des Moines Register.

"This has been a long time coming. Iowa is finally catching up with the rest of the world in protecting our posterity," DeWitte also said.

Presidential hopeful interviewees at 2023 “Principle Over Politics” FAMiLY Leader Summit at the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center in Des Moines, Iowa, were interviewed by Tucker Carlson Friday. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and former Vice President Mike Pence were interviewed prior to Reynold's appearance. Gov. Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley were scheduled to appear later in the day.

Watch BlazeMedia’s live coverage of the Summit below, and be sure to stick around for Glenn Beck's interview with Tucker Carlson exclusively on BlazeTV at the conclusion of the Summit.

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