WASHINGTON — Iowa’s House Republicans passed a bill March 7 that would make it a felony to cause the death of an unborn person defined as “an individual organism … from fertilization to live birth.”

The bill expands a state law that already has penalties in place for termination or serious injury to a “human pregnancy.”

House Democrats and other critics say this new proposed legislation could threaten in vitro fertilization since the procedure involves the creation of embryos outside the body, and many are often discarded if not used.

The bill needs to pass the state Senate and be signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds to become law.

The Iowa bill is one of similar measures considered by state Legislatures around the nation that would expand legal and constitutional protections for embryos and fetuses.

The Associated Press reported that an Iowa House Democrat proposed, but then withdrew, an amendment to explicitly carve out protections for IVF in the state’s proposed legislation. “This bill right here … puts IVF at risk whether you want to believe it or not,” said Iowa Democrat Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell. “We are now seeing the damage these laws can have on people seeking and providing reproductive health care.”

House Republican Rep. Skyler Wheeler said Democratic lawmakers are “trying to turn this into a conversation that it is not,” saying it was not meant to target IVF.

A national focus on IVF has been highlighted by the recent state Supreme Court decision in Alabama that said embryos created through IVF should be considered children and individuals could be held liable for destroying them.

But on March 6, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill into law to protect IVF providers and patients in the state from criminal or civil liability.

The attention to IVF treatments prompted a response from the head of the U.S. bishops’ committee who reiterated the Catholic Church’s stance against the fertility treatment.

“It is precisely because each person’s life is a unique gift that we cannot condone procedures that violate the right to life or the integrity of the family. Certain practices like IVF do both, and they are often not effective even for their own purposes,” said Bishop Michael Burbidge, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, in a March 8 statement.