REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
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Not just abortion: IVF ruling next phase in the right’s war on reproductive freedom
The Alabama Supreme Court directly cited the Dobbs decision—in which the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade—in its ruling that effectively bans IVF in the state. But amid furious public backlash, Donald Trump and Republicans have raced to distance themselves from the ruling they made possible.
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1,300 Iowa moms, 400 babies could lose health coverage under postpartum Medicaid bill
Thousands of Iowa women and hundreds of babies could lose Medicaid coverage under a bill that passed through the Iowa Senate. On Monday, the Iowa Legislative Services Agency released a fiscal note for SF 2251, a bill that would expand postpartum Medicaid coverage but limit eligibility for pregnant people. The agency notes that the Iowa…
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Lies and threats: Iowans share what fake pregnancy resource centers are really like
When Mica Chase, then 19 years old, set foot in an anti-abortion center 14 years ago, all they wanted was a free pregnancy test. But when the test was complete and the Cedar Rapids resident said they didn’t want to be pregnant, staff members started talking about religion. They told Chase abortion is murder. They…
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Senate Republicans pass bill that could allow discrimination on religious grounds
Sen. Liz Bennett (D-Cedar Rapids)—Iowa’s only out LGBTQ senator—is fed up with seeing queer Iowans continue to be attacked by her Republican colleagues. “I am sick and tired of my community being the target of mean-spirited discriminatory bills written by Republican politicians,” she said during a Tuesday Iowa Senate debate over a bill she and…
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Biden blasts Trump’s support of a nationwide abortion ban
President Joe Biden took Trump to task for his support of a nationwide abortion ban and his role in repealing Roe v. Wade, criticizing him for “taking away women’s freedom,” putting women’s lives in danger, and unleashing “cruelty and chaos all across America.”
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Iowa anti-abortion bills that survived funnel week
Bills requiring teaching children anti-abortion curriculum, pushing the idea of fetal personhood, explicitly disrupting Iowans’ access to health care, and other anti-abortion legislation survived the first legislative funnel to go on for further consideration and potentially make their way into law. Those bills are: HF 2518 would allow a civil wrong death action for the…
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Republicans want to use a 150-year-old law to ban abortion nationwide
Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for a second Trump administration, calls for the Justice Department to start enforcing the Comstock Act of 1873. The old law bans the mailing of “anything designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion,” which could include medical instruments.
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Bill promoting pregnancy misinformation in school advances in Iowa Senate
Dr. Emily Boevers, a licensed OB-GYN in Waverly, said if Iowa Republicans want to require anti-abortion curriculum for children as young as 6 up until they graduate high school, it should at least be factual. “As a scientist and a physician, I just have to say that it’s very important that we use accurate terminology…
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Iowa Senate bill would expand postpartum coverage, but limit participants
A bill that would increase postpartum Medicaid coverage for a full year, but restrict the number of people eligible for the program continues to work its way through the Iowa Senate. The limit is currently at 60 days and Iowa is one of only three states that hasn’t expanded coverage. The others are Idaho and…
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Iowa Senate Dem bill would guarantee access to birth control
Thousands of Iowans have told Iowa senators that protecting reproductive rights is their biggest issue. “I see a great deal of concern when I’m out door knocking,” said Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott (D-West Des Moines). “One fellow, he’s a registered Republican and he was so upset about attacks to abortion access. He has three daughters,…
