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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 […]

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‘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 […]

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Legal challenge to Iowa’s near-total abortion ban withdrawn; pro-choice PAC to spend $250,000 in the state ahead of Election Day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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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 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 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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Rep. Hinson, Rep. Feenstra and AG Bird push U.S. Supreme Court to restrict medication abortions

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday on whether to allow a preliminary injunction suspending the FDA’s 2021 decision easing restrictions on the availability of mifepristone, a prescription medication used in medical abortions. The injunction, issued by a federal judge in Texas in April 2023 and subsequently narrowed by the Fifth Circuit Court of […]

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Iowa House Republicans advance a bill to cut qualifications for running a program giving anti-abortion centers millions in funds

In 2022, Republicans in the Iowa Legislature pushed through a bill creating the More Options for Maternal Support (MOMS) program, which would use tax dollars to fund privately run anti-abortion centers — which call themselves “pregnancy resource centers” — across the state. Gov. Kim Reynolds touted the program as an important part of her anti-abortion […]

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