ISSUES

ABORTION AND REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE

 

Background:  Public funding in Iowa for family planning services is not adequate to meet the needs of Iowans. In 2017, family planning services in Iowa were gutted and the administration refused $3 million in federal funding in order to defund providers who offer abortion care. Since then, STI rates have jumped 21 percent. 

 

Iowa’s incumbent Governor, Kim Reynolds, was one of eleven governors who called on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. She signed a law, currently stopped by the courts, that would ban abortions at six weeks — before most people know they are pregnant — and a law requiring a medically unnecessary 24-hour waiting period to receive an abortion. 

 

These decisions have set a dangerous precedent, which will only serve to further put women in harm's way. Iowa is in desperate need of a leader who will keep politicians out of personal health care decisions and expand access to care. Unlike the current leadership, I will continue to stand with the people by protecting the reproductive freedoms and healthcare rights of all Iowans. 

 

Deidre on the issues

• Ensure public schools provide age-appropriate, medically accurate, research-informed sexual and reproductive health education.

• Increase access to birth control, including Plan B and other emergency contraception.

• Restore public funds for family planning services to providers that offer comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare.

• Expand the number of sexual and reproductive health clinics throughout the state. 

• Codify the right to abortion in the state. 

• Support holistic prenatal healthcare access throughout the state to address increasing rates of maternal mortality, especially for people of color, and provide protections for doctors who provide care during miscarriage and pregnancy complications.

• Stop the flow of taxpayer dollars to “crisis pregnancy centers” — fake clinics that deceive patients.

• Ensure Paid Parental Leave provisions in the state.