Abortion-ban exceptions won’t provide much relief for Iowa women. Here’s why.

The bigger picture won’t change unless a reconstituted Iowa Legislature repeals this law, which offends human rights and, as measured by polls, the wishes of Iowans.

The Register's editorial, Des Moines Register
July 28, 2024

Six years of trying will pay off Monday for Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Republicans: A law that bans almost all abortions will take effect.

And “almost all” means “almost all.” Tying the abortion prohibition to the detection of cardiac activity means many girls and women won’t realize they are pregnant before it’s too late to seek care.

Continued: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/editorials/2024/07/28/iowa-abortion-ban-exceptions-provide-little-relief-rape-incest-emergency/74534809007/


USA – Every State That’s Tried to Ban Abortion Over the Coronavirus

Every State That’s Tried to Ban Abortion Over the Coronavirus

By Hannah Gold
Apr. 7, 2020

Just days into the national surge of coronavirus cases, as an increasing amount of states called for nonessential businesses to shut down, some Republican legislators began using the public health crisis as an opportunity to deny health care to patients seeking abortions. The tactic has been replicated in the past couple of weeks, with governors in several states peddling the cynical argument that temporarily banning abortion will help shore up their supply of medical gear for hospitals overwhelmed by the pandemic.

So far, lawmakers in five states — Ohio, Texas, Alabama, Iowa, and Oklahoma — have attempted to halt abortion services indefinitely. As of now, only the Texas order has taken effect, and all of these temporary bans face strong legal challenges. Last week, providers in Alabama, Iowa, Ohio, and Oklahoma filed lawsuits to prevent the orders from taking effect in their states. A similar lawsuit was filed in Texas last week as well.

Continued: https://www.thecut.com/2020/04/every-state-thats-tried-to-ban-abortion-over-coronavirus.html


States Are Using the Cover of COVID-19 to Restrict Abortion and Healthcare for Women

States Are Using the Cover of COVID-19 to Restrict Abortion and Healthcare for Women
With constituents distracted by the deadly pandemic, Republican state legislatures across the country are ramping up efforts to limit access to abortion

By Alex Morris
March 30, 2020

On March 18th, as the reality of the coronavirus crisis was becoming painfully apparent to Americans, the Idaho legislature was turning its attention to healthcare concerns of another kind: making sure that women were denied access to abortion at some nebulous future date. Across the country, state legislatures had gone into recess, heeding the social distancing advice of medical professionals. Not Idaho. For at least an hour on the floor of the House, there was vigorous debate over Senate Bill 1385, a so-called “trigger law” that would immediately criminalize abortion in the state if Roe v. Wade were overturned or a constitutional amendment gave states the right to criminalize it themselves. Under the law, performing an abortion would be a felony, except in instances of officially-reported rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother. “Everyone needs to face the consequences of their own personal choices,” Representative Megan Blanksma said in her closing debate, just before the bill passed 49-18 and made its way to Governor Brad Little’s desk to be signed, which it was last Tuesday.

Continued: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/covid-19-abortion-planned-paranthood-975324/


USA – Abortion rights group to host presidential forum on reproductive rights

Abortion rights group to host presidential forum on reproductive rights

By Jessie Hellmann
10/17/19

NARAL Pro-Choice America will host a presidential forum focused on reproductive rights and abortion, the group announced on Thursday.

The forum will take place in the second to last week in January in Des Moines, Iowa, a key primary state.

Continued: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/466284-abortion-rights-group-to-host-presidential-forum-on-reproductive-rights


USA – 4 Devious Ways States Chipped Away At Abortion Rights In 2018

4 Devious Ways States Chipped Away At Abortion Rights In 2018
The past year's restrictions were particularly extreme.

By Catherine Pearson, HuffPost US
12/29/2018

Every year, anti-abortion legislators and legislatures chip away at reproductive rights, and 2018 brought a wave of extreme restrictions from lawmakers determined to topple Roe v. Wade. This year, as of Dec. 11, 22 abortion restrictions were passed nationwide — a number that will likely edge up to 24 by the time 2019 begins.

On the surface, that number looks pretty good. It’s the fewest abortion restrictions passed in a single year in more than a decade, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which studies and promotes reproductive health policy. And for the first time in recent years, the number of proactive reproductive health policies — measures that make it easier for women to access abortion services and birth control, for example — outpaced the number of restrictions.

Continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/states-abortion-rights-erosion-2018_us_5c1be156e4b0407e907886b8?ec_carp=5444351490008681624


USA – Why the Battle for Reproductive Rights Is Never Over

Why the Battle for Reproductive Rights Is Never Over
New abortion restrictions mock Roe v. Wade with an oddly ironic effect

By David S. Cohen
May 10, 2018

If you've been following the news surrounding reproductive rights recently, you'd be forgiven for asking yourself whether we're living in a world where Roe v. Wade was never decided. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot make abortion illegal before viability – back then this meant about 28 weeks into pregnancy, now it's about 24 weeks. And yet, in March, Mississippi passed a law banning abortion after 15 weeks. Last week, Iowa one-upped the Magnolia State, passing a law banning abortion after just six weeks. And South Carolina nearly topped both of them, coming close to passing a law banning all abortions except in the case of life threat, rape or incest. The only thing that stopped that law was a rarely successful Democratic filibuster that pushed the legislature too close to the end of its calendar. In other words, if the law had been considered earlier in the year, the state could have banned almost all abortions.

continued: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/abortion-laws-by-state-w520139