Adapting to Iowa's abortion ban, Beshear rallies Dems, and more
July 29 "Capitol Week" is online
Before I get to Iowa politics, I need to give a shout out to
, who writes the Regular Order newsletter. Jamie’s covered Capitol Hill for nearly 40 years and produces consistently good Congressional coverage. But he outdid himself on Monday with a huge scoop: “The Jan. 6 security tapes being released by House Republicans have produced a surprise - video evidence of Donald Trump’s fake GOP elector scheme in action on Capitol Hill, one day before Trump supporters laid siege to the U.S. Capitol.”Jamie spent “many hours” going through the Capitol security tapes while working on this piece and connected some dots using text messages published by the January 6 Select Committee. It’s a must-read.
If you want to understand what’s going on in Congress on any given day, consider subscribing to Regular Order.
A quick heads up to readers in Chicagoland: I’m holding a Bleeding Heartland event in the Hyde Park area on Wednesday, August 14 from 4:00 to 7:00 PM. I’ll keep the prepared remarks brief so there will be plenty of time for people to ask me anything about Iowa politics. Although it’s a fundraiser, donations are not required to attend. Please reach out if you can be there or have a friend in Chicago who would like an invitation.
On to our regularly scheduled programming.
The audio from our latest show is at the top of this message, or you can find it on podcast platforms and smart speakers as “KHOI’s Capitol Week.” Our full archive (going back to February 2021) is available on KHOI’s website.
Topics Spencer Dirks and I covered this week:
Of course we began with Iowa’s near-total abortion ban (House File 732), which the state was able to enforce as of 8:00 AM on July 29. I avoid editorializing on the radio, so my voice doesn’t convey how upset I feel about what’s happening. I know my parents (strong Planned Parenthood supporters) and my grandmother (who was active in the Sioux City Maternal Women’s Health League during the 1940s) would be equally horrified to see Iowans lose their reproductive rights;
First, we reviewed the key restrictions in this law and why I describe it as a “near-total abortion ban” (not “fetal heartbeat law” or “six-week ban”);
Although we focused on the Iowa impact, women across the region will be harmed, because many Missouri and Nebraska residents have come to Iowa for abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade;
We separated the exceptions into two categories. For those who don’t want to carry an unplanned pregnancy to term, there are only two exceptions: for rape (if reported within 45 days) or incest (if reported within 140 days). I agree with Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen, who characterized those exceptions as “unrealistic” and “largely unusable”;
The Iowa Board of Medicine’s administrative rules require physicians to seek and document medically irrelevant information if a patient is seeking an abortion due to rape or incest;
The other group of exceptions relates to medical situations, often happening to those who had hoped to continue their pregnancies. Iowa’s law allows abortion in cases of incomplete miscarriages, “medical emergency” that threatens the woman’s life or risks substantial impairment of a bodily function, and “fetal abnormality incompatible with life” (if discovered before the 20-week mark). Neither the law nor the Board of Medicine’s administrative rules spell out which kinds of conditions qualify for those exceptions. In addition, severe fetal abnormalities are often diagnosed after 20 weeks;
After 20 weeks, almost no abortions will be allowed, other than for medical emergencies or when “necessary to preserve the life of an unborn child” (which appears to be an exception for some twin pregnancies);
We talked about how Planned Parenthood North Central States and the Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City are adapting to the new law. They’ve been preparing for months and are ready to refer patients to clinics out of state. The Chicago Abortion Fund is also providing grants to Iowans in partnership with the Iowa Abortion Access Fund;
Planned Parenthood is expanding its clinic in Omaha, Nebraska, where abortion is allowed up to 12 weeks. Planned Parenthood also has clinics in Mankato, Minnesota, and Rochester, Minnesota, which are not far from the Iowa border. But the Mankato and Rochester clinics provide medication abortions only. For those wanting a procedural abortion, the main options will be in Illinois, Omaha, or the Twin Cities;
I didn’t mention this during the show, but I strongly encourage Iowans who can become pregnant to obtain a free reproductive health kit and stock up on inexpensive pregnancy test strips. It’s also important to test right away if you think you may be pregnant. Planned Parenthood and the Emma Goldman Clinic will continue to provide abortion care when cardiac activity can’t be detected using an ultrasound. So getting a positive pregnancy test at 5 weeks rather than 6 or 7 weeks could save someone from having to travel hundreds of miles out of state;
Will any Iowa clinics close now that the state can enforce the abortion ban? Dr. Sarah Traxler, the chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood North Central States, said during a July 26 press conference that there are no plans to close any facilities in Iowa. She noted that most Planned Parenthood clinics in Iowa don’t provide abortions anyway. They will continue to offer a full range of reproductive health services (well woman care, contraception, STD testing, HIV prevention, etc), as will the Emma Goldman Clinic;
I wanted to make clear that Planned Parenthood will not mail abortion medications to patients in states where abortion is banned. They will provide medication abortions at their clinics in other states, but patients will need to travel to obtain those services. Patient navigators can help make those arrangements, and funding may be available for people in need;
We also discussed one point I may not have mentioned on previous shows about the abortion ban. The law Republicans passed in July 2023 doesn't say anything about self-administered abortions. Rather, it requires or prohibits certain actions for physicians. We don’t have a lot of information about self-administered abortion in Iowa, but it’s presumably happening since there are companies that ship medications. (Mifepristone and misoprostol are only effective in terminating a pregnancy up to about 10 or 11 weeks);
We don’t know yet how physicians who occasionally terminate pregnancies will approach the medical exceptions. Planned Parenthood serves people who are seeking an abortion. Someone who develops a life-threatening condition during pregnancy will typically go to an emergency room. Experience from other states suggests doctors will hesitate to provide the same kind of care they did when abortion was legal. They may wait until the woman’s condition worsens;
As for the fetal abnormality exception, such anomalies are usually identified by the OB/GYN providing standard prenatal care. But doctors may disagree on whether a certain condition is “incompatible with life.” What if a fetus could survive for a few minutes or hours after birth? What if the condition is usually fatal but some small percentage of babies could survive? The Iowa Board of Medicine’s administrative rules are no help here;
Other states with abortion bans have seen OB/GYNs move to other states. I haven’t heard about any specific doctors leaving Iowa yet, but I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t happen. One thing I forgot to mention: Dr. Francesca Turner warned during a Democratic news conference on Monday that the University of Iowa’s OB/GYN residency training program could lose its accreditation;
Spencer and I recapped some political reaction to the ban going into effect. Most Republican officials didn’t release new statements this week. Many Democrats criticized the ban and predicted a voter backlash in November. Some warned Republicans will go further to ban abortion or restrict other kinds of reproductive care (such as surrogacy or fertility treatments);
Vice President Kamala Harris released a video Monday to highlight that Iowa is the 22nd state to enact a “Trump abortion ban”;
Nearly halfway through the show, we finally got to some other political news. Democrats reacted enthusiastically last week to the emergence of Harris as the party’s presidential nominee. The Iowa Democratic Party sold out its big summer fundraiser, featuring Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. His speech was well-received, touting his own record as well as the Biden-Harris accomplishments. He also got in some good digs on Donald Trump and JD Vance;
I don’t expect Harris to pick Beshear as her running mate, since Kentucky has a Republican lieutenant governor. But I do think Beshear will be an important surrogate for Harris, especially in some southern states;
Although Beshear was the main attraction on Saturday night, I was fascinated by State Auditor Rob Sand’s remarks, which seemed like a preview of a stump speech for 2026. At Bleeding Heartland, I wrote about how Sand drew heavily on the language of faith to press his case against Republican policies. You don’t often hear a Democratic politician start a speech by quoting Jesus;
We briefly recapped what some other Democratic candidates said at the state party fundraiser. Fourth Congressional district candidate Ryan Melton shared his remarks (as prepared) at Bleeding Heartland;
July 29 marked the first day that Iowa candidates who didn’t compete in a primary election could submit nominating papers for state or federal offices. I went to the state capitol Monday morning to talk to the three Libertarian candidates for Congress (Nicholas Gluba in IA-01, Marco Battaglia in IA-03, and Charles Aldrich in IA-04);
A new thing I learned this week was that Charles Aldrich ran for U.S. Senate in Minnesota in 2008 and received nearly 14,000 votes in that election. That was the year when Democrat Al Franken defeated Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by a few hundred votes out of nearly 2.9 million cast;
We had just a few minutes for state government news. The State Auditor’s office released a report last week on how the Iowa Department of Education agreed to contract amendments that doubled the amount the state will pay Odyssey, the vendor administering the Education Savings Accounts (school voucher) program;
I wanted to make clear that the contract with Odyssey accounts for only a small fraction of what the voucher program will cost taxpayers. The legislature allocated $179 million for Education Savings Accounts this year, but the cost will likely exceed $200 million;
Governor Kim Reynolds’ office announced on Monday that the governor is allocating $5.5 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan to support victim assistance programs managed by the Iowa Attorney General’s office. The funds will make up for a loss of $5.4 million due to changes Congress made to the federal Victim of Crimes Act;
We had less than a minute to talk about John Deere & Co scrapping diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. I hope to return to that subject during a future show.
Thanks for reading or listening! Before Spencer and I are on the air next Monday, I hope to publish some state government stories I’ve been pushing back for weeks. If you don’t want to miss anything published at Bleeding Heartland, please subscribe to my other free email newsletter.
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