Candidates Josh Turek and Zach Wahls sparred Thursday during the second U.S. Senate Democratic primary debate on issues like reproductive healthcare and how to best achieve their policy goals if elected.
One of the notable disputes during the KCCI and Gray Media debate centered on reproductive healthcare. Wahls, a state senator from Coralville, said “reproductive rights, in addition to maternal health, is a place of real difference” between him and Turek, a state representative from Council Bluffs, when comparing their votes at the Iowa Legislature.
“During his time in the Legislature, Rep. Turek has missed votes on the six-week abortion ban, on the fetal personhood bill that threatened IVF, and also the mandatory anti-abortion indoctrination that Kim Reynolds was pushing for,” Wahls said. “I’m very proud to have a record that I would put second to none, and in the United States Senate, I will fight to protect maternal health and reproductive rights for every Iowa woman.”
Turek called Wahls’ characterization of his missed vote on the state’s six-week abortion ban in 2023 “disgraceful.”
“He knows exactly where I was, and honestly, it’s disgraceful,” Turek said. “I was sick with a condition for my disability and I had put out a statement about that. I have always been proudly pro-choice. I will fight for women’s reproductive freedom, and in the United States Senate, I will do all that I can to codify Roe v. Wade.”
Roe v. Wade was the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that established a constitutional right to abortion before the point of fetal viability. It was overturned in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling.
Turek, the first member of the Iowa Legislature with a permanent disability, made a statement in a newsletter in 2023 saying he was unable to attend the vote on the bill because of a serious medical issue related to his disability. “I want to apologize to all of my constituents for not being able to cast my vote against this bill on your behalf,” he wrote. “Because of my absence I felt the obligation to make my feelings on this issue known and clear” and he provided a link to further comments.
Wahls said this was one of several instances of the Council Bluffs Democrat missing votes on measures related to reproductive rights. He also pointed to Turek missing a vote on a 2024 bill that proposed increasing penalties on the nonconsensual ending of a pregnancy and changing language when referring to these crimes from the termination of a “human pregnancy” to the “death of an unborn person.”
Turek’s campaign noted he missed this vote because he was at the Christopher Reeves Foundation’s Legislative Summit advocating for research funding for individuals with disabilities in Washington D.C., an event scheduled before the legislative vote calendar was released. Wahls also cited a 2025 bill which was signed into law requiring students in grades 5 through 12 be shown ultrasound video and computer-generated rendering or animations depicting “the humanity of the unborn child by showing prenatal human development, starting at fertilization” in human growth and development classes. During this vote, Turek was speaking to The Disabled Law Student Association at Syracuse University College of Law.
Additionally, Wahls criticized Turek for voting with Republicans during a House Health and Human Services Committee meeting to advance a bill proposed by the governor in 2023. That bill included a variety of policy proposals — it would have allowed over-the-counter access to hormonal birth control medication and created four state-funded obstetrics and gynecology fellowships a year to address the state’s shortage of OB-GYN practitioners. But it was heavily opposed by reproductive healthcare advocates, as it included $2 million for the “More Options for Maternal Support” or MOMS program that funds “crisis pregnancy centers.” Advocates say these entities misrepresent themselves as legitimate medical providers and provide pregnant women misinformation about abortion.
“Rep. Turek voted with Republicans on a bill that Kim Reynolds was pushing to quadruple state taxpayer funding for crisis pregnancy centers,” Wahls said. “These are the fake healthcare clinics that lie to Iowa women when they are vulnerable and seeking help. In the United States Senate, I will push to defund these clinics, to make sure that they are not receiving taxpayer support — because Iowa women deserve to have access to real maternal healthcare and reproductive right services, not whatever that is.”
Turek said he supported this measure during the committee process, as it contained “incentives for fellowships” related to maternal healthcare. When lawmakers voted on increasing funding for the MOMS program from $500,000 to $1 million as part of the Health and Human Services budget bill in 2023, Turek voted against the measure.
The discussion on reproductive healthcare also sparked candidates sharing different opinions on how best to move forward policy if elected. Both Turek and Wahls said they would support codifying Roe v. Wade, but moderators asked how to advance this goal when facing potential gridlock in Congress.
Turek said his experience in the Republican-controlled state legislature has taught him how to work across the aisle to advance meaningful legislation.
“When I first joined the Iowa Legislature, I was told that I wouldn’t get a subcommittee, I wouldn’t get a committee, and I would never get anything signed by the governor. Too much tribalism. And I said, ‘I refuse,’” Turek said. “I did not drag my wheelchair up these stairs every single day, just to come up here and hit the red button. And so I had been someone that has been willing to work across the aisle, to build relationships, to be able to actually get policy across the finish line. I’ve been able to get more policy across the finish line, in my four years in the Legislature, than any other Democrat in the state. … And so I believe, going to D.C., that actually, we can work to codify Roe v. Wade to ensure that every woman has the reproductive freedom that she deserves.”
Wahls said he disagreed with this assessment, saying that reproductive healthcare and access to abortion was not an area of compromise with Republicans.
“There are some places where we are not going to be able to work across the aisle, because we have a serious disagreement about the future of reproductive rights in this country,” Wahls said. “I will be a champion for Iowa women’s reproductive freedom in the U.S. Senate the same way that I have been in the legislature.”
Wahls and Turek are competing in the June 2 primary to become the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Joni Ernst, who is not seeking reelection. There is a Republican primary taking place between U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson and Republican Jim Carlin. Early voting began Wednesday.
Robin Opsahl covers the Iowa Legislature and politics for Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this story first appeared.
