Iowa Democrats Issue Joint Statement Marking One Year of Republicans’ Abortion Ban This Week

DES MOINES – Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart, Iowa Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner, and Iowa Democratic House Leader Brian Meyer issued the following joint statement regarding the first anniversary of Iowa Republicans’ near-total abortion ban, which will be marked on July 29th:

“Iowa Republicans will stop at nothing to rip health care away from Iowans – especially women.

It has been one year since Iowa’s near-total abortion ban went into effect. In that time, every Iowa Planned Parenthood, which provides yearly cancer screenings and women’s health services, has closed except for two. This is devastating news in a state where the rate of OB-GYN physicians per capita is the lowest in the nation, where people living in one-third of our 99 counties do not have access to maternity care, and where 41 hospitals have closed their labor and delivery units since 2000.

Now, Republicans are dropping hints they intend to go even further, taking away Iowans’ freedom – using Iowa as a testing ground to restrict abortion medication and the ability to drive across state lines to receive care — which would leave Iowan women with virtually no options for health care.

Iowa Democrats stand together when we say that we trust Iowa women to make their own health care decisions.”

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