DES MOINES, Iowa (NEWSnet/AP) — Iowa’s Republican-led Legislature passed a bill banning most abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy during a marathon special session that ended Tuesday night.

Gov. Kim Reynolds said she would sign the bill on Friday.

The bill passed with exclusively Republican support in a rare, one-day legislative burst lasting more than 14 hours over the vocal – and sometimes tense – objections from Democratic lawmakers and abortion advocates protesting at the Capitol.

Reynolds ordered the rare session after the state Supreme Court declined in June to reinstate a practically identical law that she signed in 2018.

Abortion is currently legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. The legislation will take immediate effect with the governor’s signature on Friday. It will prohibit almost all abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant.

There are limited circumstances under the measure that would allow for abortion after cardiac activity is detected; they include specifications for reports of rape or incest, if the fetus has a fetal abnormality “incompatible with life;” and if the pregnancy is endangering the life of the pregnant woman.

In response, Planned Parenthood North Central States said they will refer patients who do not meet the new criteria to options out of state. The organization will continue to work with Iowa patients who seek abortion before cardiac activity is detected.

Most Republican-led states have drastically limited abortion access in the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and handed authority on abortion law to the states.

Copyright 2023 NEWSnet and The Associated Press. All rights reserved.