Nearly 60% of likely GOP caucusgoers agree with Iowa law banning most abortions after 6 weeks

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A majority of likely Republican caucusgoers in Iowa think the state’s “fetal heartbeat” law, which would ban most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, is the right approach.

Fifty-eight percent of likely Republican caucusgoers say the law “gets it about right,” according to a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll, while 30% say the law imposes too many restrictions. Nine percent of respondents say the law has too few restrictions.

This poll of 406 likely Republican caucusgoers was conducted Aug. 13-17 by Selzer & Co. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds summoned lawmakers for a July special session to pass the “fetal heartbeat” law, which bans nearly all abortions after cardiac activity is detected in an embryo. Medical professionals say that cardiac activity can be detected as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

The law includes narrowly defined exceptions for rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormalities and medical emergencies.

Lawmakers passed the legislation in a one-day marathon session, and Reynolds signed it into law soon after. Just days later, a Polk County district court judge issued a temporary injunction, blocking the law from being enforced while courts consider its constitutionality.

The enthusiasm of likely Republican caucusgoers for the law appears to contrast with the views of a majority of Iowans, according to a March Iowa Poll, when most Iowans said abortion should be legal in most or all cases.

Abortion providers in Iowa say the fetal heartbeat law, if enforced, would prohibit the vast majority of abortions in the state.

Currently, abortions are legal in Iowa until 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Republican caucusgoers more supportive of fetal heartbeat law than Iowa adults in general

The March 2023 Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll found that 61% of Iowans believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases.

Since September 2008, the percentage of Iowans supporting legal abortion has risen or remained the same in all but one Iowa Poll, in March 2020, climbing from a low of 48% to its peak in March 2023.

An October 2022 Iowa Poll asked specifically about a fetal heartbeat law: Forty-five percent of Iowans said they agreed with the law, while 49% disagreed. There was more support for the fetal heartbeat law among Republican respondents: 70%.

August poll respondent Gabe Haugland, a 39-year-old from Clear Lake and former member of the Iowa GOP's central committee, said he supports Iowa's law. He argued "there needs to be some exceptions" to allow for abortions in cases where the mother's life is in danger, and he was "willing to have the discussion" for victims of rape.

"I spent a lot of my adult life working for organizations like Caring Pregnancy Center, so this has always been an issue that's close to my heart," Haugland said.

Traci Stillwell, a 59-year-old poll respondent and hair salon owner from Hampton, said she thinks the law isn’t restrictive enough, since she believes life begins at conception.

“I don’t believe any life should just be eliminated because it’s inconvenient, or somebody didn’t use their birth control, or they’re promiscuous,” Stillwell said.

Stillwell said she would support limited exceptions for “very, very unique situations” where abortions are necessary to save a woman’s life.

Michael Boettcher, a 34-year-old poll respondent from Clinton, said he thinks the fetal heartbeat law is too restrictive. He said the law doesn’t give enough time for women to seek an abortion after discovering they are pregnant.

“It’s put an unfair medical strain on females,” he said.

Poll respondents differ on federal abortion policies as 2024 caucus nears

Some Republican presidential candidates applauded the passage of the new abortion restrictions in Iowa.

A nonprofit founded by former Vice President Mike Pence spent about $25,000 on ads and texts encouraging Iowans to contact their lawmakers in support of the bill.

Vivek Ramaswamy visited the Iowa Capitol during the special session to meet with Republican legislators. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been quick to compare Iowa’s law to a similar law he signed in Florida.

Many presidential candidates have also weighed in on a proposal to pass federal legislation to ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions. Fifty-four percent of likely Republican caucusgoers in the new poll say they would be more likely rather than less likely to favor a candidate who supports the 15-week ban.

Twenty-four percent say they would be less likely to support a candidate who favors a nationwide restriction, and 20% say it would not matter.

Stillwell, the hair salon owner who would support a near-total abortion ban in Iowa, said she believes states should decide the issue for themselves. She’s a fan of former President Donald Trump, and she believes the president should be moral and “pro-life” — but she doesn’t want a nationwide abortion ban.

“I just think our federal government needs to stay out of a lot of those personal things,” she said. “They need to stay out of our education, our health care, all of that.”

Haugland said he would support national abortion restrictions if Republicans in Congress can garner the support to pass them.

"If the federal government determines through our elected leaders that in this country, we should not abort babies that are pretty well-developed at 14 weeks, then I'm fine with that," he said.

Galen Bacharier contributed reporting.

Katie Akin is a politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at kakin@registermedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @katie_akin.

About the Iowa Poll

The Iowa Poll, conducted Aug. 13-17, 2023, for The Des Moines Register, NBC News and Mediacom by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, is based on telephone interviews with 406 registered voters in Iowa who say they will definitely or probably attend the 2024 Republican caucuses.

Interviewers with Quantel Research contacted 2,953 randomly selected voters from the Iowa secretary of state’s voter registration list by telephone. The sample was supplemented with additional phone number lookups. Interviews were administered in English. Responses for all contacts were adjusted by age, sex and congressional district to reflect their proportions among voters in the list.

Questions based on the sample of 406 voters likely to attend the 2024 Iowa Republican caucuses have a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. This means that if this survey were repeated using the same questions and the same methodology, 19 times out of 20, the findings would not vary from the true population value by more than plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. Results based on smaller samples of respondents — such as by gender or age — have a larger margin of error.

Republishing the copyright Iowa Poll without credit to The Des Moines Register, NBC News and Mediacom is prohibited.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Poll: Most likely GOP caucusgoers favor ‘fetal heartbeat’ law