Politics
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Bill to legalize discrimination against trans Iowans goes down in flames
Cheers rang out down the hallway as a bill that would have legalized discrimination against trans and nonbinary Iowans failed to pass an Iowa House subcommittee Wednesday. HF 2082 would have removed gender identity as a protected class and added a diagnosis for gender dysphoria or gender identity to the disabilities clause of the civil…
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Iowa Dems introduce slew of bills to protect Iowan’s reproductive freedom
After years of attacks on reproductive freedom, Iowa Senate Democrats are challenging the extremism by introducing bills to honor Iowan’s wishes and protect reproductive healthcare rights. In a Tuesday press conference, Senate Democrats announced a package of bills similar to a suite of bill introduced by Iowa House Democrats in March 2023. Sen. Pam Jochum…
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Satanic Temple welcomes opportunities to serve as Iowa school chaplains
Dressed in all black with the exception of his red-tinted sunglasses and red tie, Satanic Temple Minister Mortimer Adramelech said he and his organization would welcome the opportunity to participate in Iowa’s public school chaplain program. “I personally oppose HF 2073 because I believe in the separation of church and state, but if the bill…
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‘Scary’: Iowa Latinos concerned about GOP bill to limit access to higher education
Ari Davis of Des Moines serves as a TA and Survivor Services Coordinator for the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, a position that allows her to help survivors of sexual assault and one she would not be in if not for a college education. “If I was not able to get in-state tuition, I would…
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GOP bill that promotes anti-abortion propaganda in Iowa schools advances
Republican lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a bill to teach anti-abortion curriculum to elementary, middle and high schoolers. This bill, HF 2031, would require the human growth and development curriculum to include a three-minute animation showing organs developing in a fetus. It also requires showing a rendering or animation like one developed by an extreme anti-abortion…
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Report: Majority of Iowa’s voucher recipients already went to private school
Two-thirds of students who received a private school voucher in Iowa this year were already enrolled in private school, according to new data from the Iowa Department of Education. The department released certified enrollment numbers—taken annually on Oct. 1—for public, private, and charter schools on Friday after about a month’s delay and the results were…
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Instead of fixing real issues, Iowa Republicans push 10 bills to discriminate against LGBTQ Iowans
We are less than a month into the 2024 Iowa Legislative Session and the Republicans in charge of Iowa’s state government have been busy— and by busy, we mean coming up with new ways to legally discriminate against LGBTQ Iowans. As Iowans struggle with stagnant wages, budget shortfalls in public schools, worsened water quality, higher…
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All the anti-abortion bills introduced by Iowa Republicans this year
Despite abortion being a losing issue for Republicans across the country, Iowa Republicans in the statehouse have decided to double down on pushing anti-abortion policies. Last year, several anti-abortion bills were introduced, and a July special session led to the implementation of a near-total abortion ban. That ban is currently blocked by a temporary injunction…
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Meet the nonprofit director promoting birth control access in Iowa
Allison Smith’s outlook on birth control access completely changed when Donald Trump was elected in 2016. “I think around that time there was some really concerning rhetoric,” she said. At the time, Smith lived in Minneapolis and worked in health care administration at Whitecap Health Advisors. “There were major concerns about what [President Trump and…
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Study: 65,000 rape-caused pregnancies in states with abortion bans
“Thousands of girls and women in states that banned abortion experienced rape-related pregnancy, but few (if any) obtained in-state abortions legally, suggesting that rape exceptions fail to provide reasonable access to abortion for survivors,” the study stated.
