Iowa just banned abortions
And how this will impact the healthcare landscape in Iowa
Today, the Iowa Supreme Court removed an injunction on a near-total abortion ban. The ruling effectively outlaws abortion in the state.
Here is part of the dissent.
I wrote for MSNBC about the ruling. In my op-ed, I argue that abortion bans do not “save the unborn” they condemn pregnant people to death. The situation is already dire in Iowa. We are the second-worst state in the nation for maternal care. And it’s only going to get worse. Here is a bit of what I wrote.
The effect of Iowa’s regressive health care policies is already well underway. This year, MercyOne in Des Moines had to close a gynecological oncology center because it could not find a specialty physician to lead the unit. Dr. Megan Srinivas, an infectious disease physician and a Democratic state representative, told me that physicians “don’t want to practice medicine in Iowa because of our restrictive laws.” Iowa is already seeing the maternal mortality rate rise because of these maternal care deserts. And studies show that states with abortion bans have fewer OB-GYNs and midwives, and higher rates of maternal mortality.
And I added…
It’s exhausting to live in a state that I love and year after year, hear men in the Statehouse debate and rationalize how I have less of a right to privacy than a handgun owner, or a bag of trash sitting on a curb, which can’t be searched without a warrant. It’s exhausting to be relegated to the role of second-class citizen watching politicians bow their heads in prayer for unborn children; meanwhile, mothers who are very much alive are having their rights taken away. I am tired of constantly playing the role of eternal supplicant, begging for my right to live and live with dignity and respect.
To put it all in perspective. Last year, in a ruling on a separate near-total abortion ban — which the court struck down — Iowa Supreme Court Justice Thomas Waterman wrote, “It would be ironic and troubling to be the first state Supreme Court in the nation to hold that trash set out in a garbage can for collection is entitled to more constitutional protection than a woman’s interest in autonomy and dominion over her own body.”
We now live in a state where pregnant people have fewer rights than a bag of trash.
I know it feels very hopeless. But this week, I wrote about how we have to save ourselves. We have to dig in and show up in these places we love.
So often the response I hear when I talk about what is happening in Iowa politically is, “Leave.” As if hollowing out the core of the American landscape is a viable political solution. Some people have to stay. Some people want to stay. Leaving is just as complicated as staying. But in the end, the real answer to the problem is not to leave, but to show up.
I am now the board co-chair of the Iowa Abortion Access Fund and our organization remains committed to doing the work and helping Iowans access the care they need. We are still here. We are still fighting.
Here is some important data I want to highlight about the impact of this ban:
Since 2021, the Iowa Abortion Access Fund has seen a 27 percent increase in requests for funding.
So far, in 2024, IAAF funding requests are up 7 percent over last year.
A study by the March of Dimes found that one-third of Iowa counties are maternal care deserts, which means they have no maternity wards, no OB/GYNs, and no birthing centers.
Sixty-one percent of rural Iowa hospitals have no labor and delivery services.
Iowa currently ranks 49th of 50 states for maternal care with 1.49 obstetricians per 10,000 women.
41.4 percent of Iowa women live in counties where they cannot access reproductive care services and live with “very high or high vulnerability” to adverse outcomes such as unexpected pregnancy, preterm birth, anxiety, and depression.
Maternal mortality is higher in states with more abortion restrictions.
And a recent study out of Texas shows that abortion restrictions increase infant mortality.
It’s been a tough 24 hrs, and folks, it can get worse. But hope springs eternal as long as brave voices continue to speak (and write) truth.
Thank you Lyz!
This makes me so furious. In the 1950s, my grandmother had two young daughters and an ectopic pregnancy--w/ a heartbeat. She hemorrhaged for three days at a hospital in Waterloo, while my grandfather walked the streets around the hospital, begging for blood donations to keep her alive. She survived but was unable to have more children. Abortion bans prevent life.