Allison Bierman has wanted to be a mother. She received six rounds of in vitro fertilization procedures before finally getting pregnant in 2021. But during a check-in with her doctor, she learned the fertilized egg was growing outside of her uterus. Ectopic pregnancies cannot be moved to the uterus. They require medical intervention.
“It was only after the fact that I was able to accept that I technically had an abortion,” Bierman said.
A Catholic, Bierman still wants to be a mother. She is considered at high risk of another ectopic pregnancy and has had three miscarriages since. At a press conference Monday morning, she wondered whether her seventh round of IVF would require her to flee to another state in case of pregnancy complications.
“I am probably the last person on earth who would ever choose to have an abortion,” she said. “But that wasn’t my reality and it was just that: a choice.”
The fight for abortion rights
The press conference took place as Iowa’s new abortion ban went into effect. Previously, Iowa permitted abortions up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. The new law prohibits abortions after cardiac activity is detected. This bans abortions at about six weeks of pregnancy — a time where many do not know they are pregnant — effectively banning most abortions.
The press conference was called by Democratic candidate Christina Bohannan, who is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District seat.
“Every woman is different and every pregnancy is different. You cannot legislate every pregnancy and every situation. But Representative Miller-Meeks either doesn’t get that or she just doesn’t care,” Bohannan said.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ended a period of 50 years where a person had a federally-recognized right to an abortion prior to the viability of the fetus. It opened the door for states like Iowa to pass legislation determining at what stage of development, and under what circumstances, a person can have an abortion.
Like in 2022, Bohannan is spending much of her time on the campaign trail talking to voters about abortion access. While Iowa Democrats rallied against the law going into effect in Des Moines, Bohannan stumped outside the Johnson County Courthouse.
“There are a lot of people to blame for what has happened in Iowa today,” Bohannan said. “But Mariannette Miller-Meeks is front-and-center and one of those people most to blame for the situation that we face today.”
Miller-Meeks' record on abortion
Miller-Meeks told IPR News that Bohannan was “blatantly misrepresenting my record.” As Iowa’s Congressperson, Miller-Meeks has said she supports procedures like in vitro fertilization and abortions in the case of rape, incest and to save the life of the mother.
“My opponent is the extremist in this race. If she helps Democrats get control of the House, Washington will overturn all of Iowans’ ability to make our own laws and protections. She will vote to force taxpayer funding of abortion and for wide-open abortion laws like they have in China and Russia,” she said in a statement.
Miller-Meeks was not in the Iowa Senate when the first “fetal heartbeat” bill was passed in 2018. She came into the chamber in 2019 when the bill was overturned by the Iowa Supreme Court. Miller-Meeks also resigned to take her seat in the U.S. Congress years before this week’s abortion ban hit the floor of the Iowa Senate.
But she has been a dogged supporter of the movement to ban abortion across the country. When Miller-Meeks was a member, the Iowa Senate approved amending the Iowa Constitution to say it does not protect abortion rights. This was a direct response to the Iowa Supreme Court for holding up the 2018 “fetal heartbeat” bill.
When Gov. Kim Reynolds endorsed Miller-Meeks in her 2020 bid for federal office, Miller-Meeks said in a statement that she "championed” Reynolds’ priorities in the state legislature, specifically mentioning the “fetal heartbeat” bill.
As a member of Congress in 2021, Miller-Meeks co-sponsored a Life at Conception bill that in practice would have banned procedures like in vitro fertilization and made no circumstantial exemptions for abortions. Miller-Meeks has since distanced herself from signing on to future versions of the bill, saying they need caveats for IVF and the aforementioned abortion exemptions.
All of this has earned her an “A+” from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a national anti-abortion group.
