On Tuesday, Republicans on an Iowa House subcommittee voted to advance a bill that would mandate K-12 students receive instruction on fetal development based on the work of an anti-abortion group. HF 2031 would require the health curriculum in both public and accredited private elementary, middle and high schools to include a “high-definition ultrasound video, […]
Reproductive Rights
Posted inCommunity/News
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 […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Board of Medicine will consider rules for six-week abortion ban, even as injunction remains in effect
Last week, Attorney General Brenna Bird finally filed the Reynolds administration’s appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court, seeking to have the temporary injunction stopping enforcement of a new law banning almost all abortion after six weeks lifted. The Nov. 8 court filing comes four months after Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a statement saying she would […]
Posted inCommunity/News, Statewide
Where do abortion rights start and stop? A quick guide to Iowa and its neighbor states
As of this article’s publication, abortion up to 20 weeks into a pregnancy remained legal in Iowa. But that was only because a state district court judge issued a temporary injunction stopping enforcement of a near-total ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy that Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law on July 14. Unless […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa AG Brenna Bird said she doesn’t intend to resume coverage of emergency contraception for rape victims
Less than four months after becoming Iowa Attorney General, Brenna Bird ordered her office to stop paying for emergency contraception for rape victims. The attorney general’s office had previously covered the cost of Plan B pills, and in some cases abortions, for rape victims since 1990 as part of Sexual Abuse Examination Program. The program […]
Posted inStatewide
The state can’t find a contractor to get Reynolds’ ‘pregnancy resource centers’ funding program off the ground
The new draconian ban on abortions that Gov. Reynolds signed into law on July 14, and which was stopped by a temporary injunction issued by a state court judge three days later, isn’t the only part of the governor’s anti-abortion agenda that’s currently on hold. The Des Moines Register reported on Thursday that more than […]
Posted inStatewide
Gov. Reynolds signs confusing new abortion restrictions into law with a lie
This story originally appeared in LV Daily, Little Village’s Monday-Friday email newsletter. Sign up to have it delivered for free to your inbox. Abortions under almost any circumstances became illegal in Iowa on Friday afternoon, as soon as Gov, Kim Reynolds signed HF 732 into law. The bill bans almost all abortions after any cardiac […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Reynolds calls a special session of the Iowa legislature to pass a new abortion ban
On Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a proclamation calling the Iowa Legislature into a special session that starts at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday for “the sole and single purpose” of passing what would be one of the country’s strictest bans on abortion. “I believe the pro-life movement is the most important human rights cause […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Healing is fundamentally a political act’: Future doctors grapple with the encroachment of anti-abortion laws on Iowa health care
Medical students in Iowa watched with growing concern as the Iowa Supreme Court decided in June to no longer recognize the right to abortion as a fundamental right. A week later the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Both of the state’s medical schools, the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medical and Des […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Student group demands University of Iowa ensure access to abortion, contraception, gender-affirming care and parental leave
On Thursday, graduate students and undergrads at the University of Iowa joined more than 60 universities and high schools across 29 states for The Day of Student Action for Reproductive Justice, a student-led protest urging governments and educational institutions to ensure access to abortion, contraception, sex education and gender-affirming healthcare. The Campaign to Organize Graduate […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Abortion rights advocates in Iowa City and Des Moines to rally this weekend as part of national day of action
There will be a rally at the Pentacrest on Sunday as part of the National Weekend of Action for Reproductive Rights. The event starts at 4 p.m. A march in downtown Iowa City is scheduled after. “Iowa City Eastside Democrats will be present at the rally to register people to vote. ACLU of Iowa will […]
Posted inCommunity/News
A legal guide to self-managed abortion in Iowa, even if a six-week ban is passed
Note: The term “woman” and she/her pronouns are occasionally used in this article to refer to a hypothetical pregnant person seeking abortion. In reality, this person could be a woman, child, nonbinary person or transgender man. The recent Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health overturning Roe v. Wade left the right to […]
