Efforts to pass a bill restricting access to abortion medication earlier in this year’s legislative session stalled, but the bill was brought back and advanced Tuesday by an Iowa House Appropriations subcommittee. HF 2563 would require medications that can induce abortions, including mifepristone, to be administered or prescribed in person. This proposal would limit the […]
Abortion
Posted inCommunity/News
Shannon Lundgren, House floor manager for Iowa’s anti-abortion bills, becomes fourth Republican running in 2nd District
On Tuesday, Shannon Lundgren became the fourth Republican to join the race in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. Lundgren currently serves in the Iowa House of Representatives District 65, which covers parts of Dubuque County. She and her husband, Charlie, own the Trackside Bar & Grill in Peosta. “I’m running because I love Iowa and I […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Reynolds celebrates ‘a culture of life’ one year into abortion ban; Iowans seek care across state lines as reproductive health clinics close
Gov. Kim Reynolds has been a featured speaker at the Family Leadership Summit every year during her governorship. When she took the stage at Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center in Des Moines for this year’s event on July 11, Reynolds — who announced in April she is not running for reelection — reflected on […]
Posted inStatewide
Planned Parenthood at risk of closing hundreds of clinics, drastically limiting abortion access nationwide
If the budget reconciliation package before the U.S. Senate becomes law in the coming weeks, reproductive health advocates say the provision that would cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood clinics could serve as a backdoor nationwide abortion ban, eliminating access to one in four abortion providers. The Republican-led bill, which already passed the House by […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Bill requiring Iowa schools show material from anti-abortion groups depicting ‘humanity of the unborn child’ at fertilization heads to governor’s desk
Iowa schools would have to show ultrasound videos and computer-generated graphics on fetal development in Iowa classrooms under legislation sent to the governor’s desk Monday. SF 175, approved 33-16, would require human growth and development classes for Iowa students in grades 5-12 to include ultrasound video and computer-generated renderings or animations depicting “the humanity of the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘State mandated misinformation’: Republican lawmakers work to restrict medication abortion in Iowa
An Iowa House subcommittee advanced a bill Tuesday that would restrict access to abortion medication by mail, require physicians to inform patients about the potential to reverse a medication abortion and collect written consent of the patient seeking an abortion. HSB 186 references “recent developing research” that indicates medication-induced abortions are not always effective in ending […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa’s abortion law is dangerously vague, Iowa health providers, advocates and Democrats warn
University of Iowa student Aubrey Stark remembers coming home from elementary school to see her usually lively pregnant mother, Mandy Stark, ill and bedridden. “She was in so much pain,” Stark said. “[Her condition] was not safe for her at all.” Mandy Stark was suffering from a molar pregnancy, defined by the National Cancer Institute […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Under a near-total abortion ban, crisis pregnancy centers peddling free, phony care are even more dangerous
Chances are, you’ve seen a crisis pregnancy center — also known as a CPC, anti-abortion center, pregnancy resource center or fake clinic — without realizing it. They market themselves as healthcare clinics for women facing unintended pregnancies while targeting women who are considering having an abortion. They make it seem as though they will walk […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Poll shows large majority oppose state’s new abortion ban, support reproductive choice
A new Iowa Poll shows an overwhelming majority of Iowans opposed the state’s new near-total abortion ban. Support for the right to an abortion has also increased since Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the ban into law in July 2023, according to the poll published by the Des Moines Register on Sunday. Fifty-nine percent of respondents […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Legal challenge to Iowa’s near-total abortion ban withdrawn; pro-choice PAC to spend $250,000 in the state ahead of Election Day
Last week, the legal challenge to Iowa’s new near-total abortion ban ended. On Thursday, the ACLU of Iowa filed a petition in Polk County District Court asking Judge Jeffrey Farrell to dismiss the lawsuit it filed in July 2023 on behalf of the Emma Goldman Clinic, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland (PPH) and its medical […]
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Polk County Public Health is providing free Plan B as part of efforts to keep reproductive care accessible in Iowa
As Iowa adjusts to one of the most draconian abortion bans in the country, the Polk County Public Health Department is working to make sure people have access to emergency contraception. “We have FREE emergency contraceptive (aka Plan B/morning after pill) located in the bathrooms here at the Health Department – 1907 Carpenter Ave in […]
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Christina Bohannan vows to defend abortion in Iowa State Fair speech
Christina Bohannan, Democratic candidate for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, focused on abortion rights and her opponent’s voting record during a speech Saturday at the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. This is Bohannan’s second time running against Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District since 2022 when she lost […]
