On Thursday, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed an emergency proclamation that, among other things, banned all “nonessential or elective surgeries and procedures that utilize personal protective equipment” for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency in the state. On Friday, the governor’s spokesperson told Barbara Rodriguez of the Des Moines Register that ban includes surgical abortions. In […]
Abortion
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Senate approves anti-abortion constitutional amendment on a party-line vote
On Thursday, the Republican majority in the Iowa Senate approved an amendment to the Iowa Constitution that would undermine a woman’s right to make reproductive health choices, in an attempt to make abortion illegal. The vote was 32-18, with all Republicans voting in favor of the amendment and all the Senate’s Democrats
Posted inCommunity/News
Megan Gogerty will headline the Emma Goldman Clinic’s Annual Choice Event on Saturday
Megan Gogerty will be the keynote speaker at the Emma Goldman Clinic’s 2020 Annual Choice Event, the clinic announced on Monday. Actually, the clinic’s press release refers to Gogerty as “the keynote speaker (and performer).” Gogerty’s performance will be “based on the theme of ‘What Would Emma Do?’,” according to the clinic
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Gov. Kim Reynolds calls for an anti-abortion amendment to the Iowa Constitution
Gov. Kim Reynolds called for adding an anti-abortion amendment to the Iowa Constitution in her Condition of the State speech on Tuesday. “As we begin 2020, I’m focused on the overall wellness of all Iowans, in every part of the State, in all stages of life,” the governor said early in her speech. “And when I say all stages of life, I mean to include the unborn.
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Ernst, Grassley and King sign legal brief encouraging the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade
Sen. Joni Ernst, Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Steve King all signed onto a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday that calls Roe v. Wade “haphazard” and “unworkable,” and asks the justices to consider overturning it.
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: The tangled concept of personhood
Personhood? Who has recently tangled themselves in that labyrinth and fallen for the heartbeat cliche? And how ironic that the Christians, for millennia the purveyors of patriarchal prejudice and, too often, downright hate, with its resulting mayhem, how ironic that they have fixated on the heart as an indicator of anything.
Posted inCommunity/News
‘We won’t go back’: Reproductive rights advocates rally on the Pentacrest
Parents, grandparents, college students, sexual assault survivors, LGBTQ individuals, Christians, women’s health clinic workers and more gathered on the University of Iowa Pentacrest Friday, May 17, in support of abortion access. The demonstration, titled We Will NOT Go Back — Rally to Protect our Reproductive Rights, was organized by Liana McGowan Reimer and Nicholas Schnerre […]
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Judge strikes down Iowa’s ‘fetal heartbeat’ law
A district court judge in Polk County struck down Iowa’s so-called “fetal heartbeat” law on Tuesday. Judge Michael Huppert ruled the law, which banned almost all abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected at six weeks, violates the state’s constitution. “We are grateful the Court blocked Gov. Reynolds’ egregious attempt to ban safe, legal […]
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Raygun is hosting a poster show to support abortion access for Iowa women
Art will be a medium for activism at the Cedar Rapids Access Poster Show on Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. Hosted by Raygun at its Cedar Rapids store in the NewBo District, proceeds from the event will benefit the Iowa Abortion Access Fund .
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ACLU of Iowa, Planned Parenthood and the Emma Goldman Clinic sue to overturn Iowa’s new abortion law
Update: On June 1, Polk County District Court Judge Michael Huppert issued a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of the new abortion law at the conclusion of the first hearing on the lawsuit. Attorneys representing the state did not object to the injunction. A court challenge to Iowa’s new law banning most abortions after a fetal […]
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Emma Goldman Clinic, one of the first and last feminist women’s health clinics in the U.S., faces fresh challenges
The passing of a controversial anti-abortion bill in the Iowa Senate on May 2 — signed by Kim Reynolds on May 4 — puts the future of reproductive rights in jeopardy for many Iowans. As opponents plan to take up this fight with the courts, groups such as the Iowa City-based Emma Goldman Clinic (EGC) will continue providing education and services.
Posted inCommunity/News
Protesters gathered on the Pentacrest to rally against Iowa’s new abortion law
Adelaide Zwick summed up the feelings of many in the crowd gathered on the University of Iowa’s Pentacrest Saturday afternoon to protest the new abortion restrictions signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds: “This is a wake up call.” Zwick, the president and founder of Student Advocates for Planned Parenthood, was one of the featured […]
