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 […]
Abortion
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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 […]
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The world reacts to Iowa’s abortion ban, from Kamala Harris to local OB-GYNs: ‘Women will be harmed and die because of this law’
“Make no mistake: half of the state is less free today than they were yesterday because of Republicans in the legislature and Kim Reynolds,” Iowa House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst said on Monday. “There’s just no other way to look at it.” The Windsor Heights Democrat was speaking about the state’s near-total abortion ban, which […]
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‘We now live in a reality where politicians have control over Iowans’ bodies’: Planned Parenthood shares plans to mitigate harm caused by ‘reckless ban’
Iowa has entered a “devastating and dark” moment in its history, Dr. Sarah Traxler said on Friday. Traxler, the chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood North Central States (PPNCS), was speaking at an online news conference PPNCS held Friday morning to discuss the impact the near-total ban on abortions in Iowa that goes into effect […]
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Iowa Abortion Access Fund is partnering with the Chicago Abortion Fund to make sure Iowans can still get reproductive health services they need
Starting next week, Iowa’s new abortion ban will prohibit almost all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy in the state. Following a June 28 decision by a divided Iowa Supreme Court, the temporary injunction against enforcement of the law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in July 2023 will end at 8 a.m. on Monday, July […]
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Iowa Supreme Court rejects request for rehearing of its abortion decision, clearing the way for the state’s near-total ban to go into effect (Updated)
Update (Tuesday, July 23, 2024): Iowa’s new near-total abortion ban will go into effect on Monday, following the Iowa Supreme Court’s rejection of a rehearing request on its latest decision on reproductive rights. In an order issued Tuesday morning, Polk County District Court Judge Jerry Farrell wrote “the temporary injunction shall be deemed dissolved effective […]
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Iowa’s near-total abortion ban remains blocked by injunction
The state’s near-total abortion ban will not go into effect until the Iowa Supreme Court acts on a petition for a rehearing on its decision to overturn a temporary injunction against the ban, a Polk County District Court judge informed the parties in the case on Friday afternoon. A divided Iowa Supreme Court ruled 4-3 […]
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Iowa’s extreme abortion ban expected to go into effect Friday
Iowa’s near-total abortion ban is expected to go into effect on Friday, following the 4-3 Iowa Supreme Court decision on June 28 that overturned the temporary injunction halting the ban while the lawsuit filed by the Emma Goldman Clinic and Planned Parenthood North Central States is before the courts. The four-justice majority sent the case back […]
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Iowa, national conservative leaders talk abortion, school choice at Family Leader event
Iowa and national conservative leaders discussed wins and future goals for issues like abortion and education policy Friday at the Family Leadership Summit, with one of the group’s officials calling for further abortion restrictions in Iowa. The Family Leader, an influential conservative Christian organization, brought speakers to the gathering of an estimated 1,000 at the […]
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Iowa Supreme Court upholds near-total abortion ban, creating ‘a constitutional rule that gives no weight to a woman’s autonomy over her body’
Six years ago, the Iowa Supreme Court found the state constitution guaranteed the right to an abortion. “Autonomy and dominion over one’s body go to the very heart of what it means to be free,” then-Chief Justice Mark Cady wrote in the 2018 decision striking down a medically unnecessary 72-hour waiting period for an abortion […]
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The contender and the longshot: Two Democrats are determined to flip the House seats in Iowa’s 1st and 4th Districts
Democrats Christina Bohannan and Ryan Melton are campaigning for Congress on opposite sides of the state and in very different districts, but they have one thing in common — firsthand experience running for the U.S. House. In 2022, Bohannan challenged the Republican incumbent in Iowa’s eastern-most congressional district, the 1st, while Melton ran in the […]
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Unable to find a qualified contractor to run its anti-abortion ‘pregnancy resource centers’ fund, the state administers funds anyway; Republicans pass bill to make it legal retroactively
Starting in 2022, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) began looking for a qualified independent third-party to administer a program that will use millions in tax dollars to fund privately run anti-abortion centers — which call themselves “pregnancy resource centers” — in the state. The More Options for Maternal Support (MOMS) program […]
