Bill to ban telemedicine abortion off table in Iowa

A bill to ban abortions through the use of telemedicine in Iowa is now off of the table for 2015. The bill did not make it through a “funnel” deadline, which is used to narrow down the number of bills presented by the House and Senate at the beginning of a legislative session.

 

Lawmakers in Iowa proposed a bill making physicians the only healthcare providers able to provide, dispense, or administer any medication for the purpose of inducing a medical abortion and that abortions could only be induced in a clinic or hospital with facilities to intervene surgically in cases of an incomplete abortion or severe bleeding.

 

Although the bill did not make it out of subcommittee in Congress, the issue is not completely out of the spotlight. A district judge recently ruled that the Iowa Board of Medicine had the authority to ban telemedicine abortions in 2013. The issue is now being heard in the Iowa Supreme Court. Iowa is the only state that allows telemedicine abortions, which allows the patient and physician to communicate online in two different locations while the patient takes medication to induce abortion.