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One Year After the One Big Beautiful Bill, It’s Harder Than Ever for Iowa Women to Access Reproductive Care Because of Ashley Hinson

One Year After the One Big Beautiful Bill, It’s Harder Than Ever for Iowa Women to Access Reproductive Care Because of Ashley Hinson

Des Moines Register: “Iowa Abortion Access Shrinks; Planned Parenthood to Close in Iowa City”

Iowa Starting Line: “Iowa Patients Hit Hard by GOP Defunding of Planned Parenthood”

DES MOINES – A year after Ashley Hinson voted for massive health care cuts in the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Iowans are finding it harder than ever to access reproductive health care, according to new reports from the Des Moines Register and Iowa Starting Line.

Since Hinson got to Congress, she has been on a mission to wipe out access to reproductive care for women across Iowa. The state’s OB-GYN shortage has made it increasingly difficult for women to see a doctor as Iowa’s reproductive health care restrictions leave hospitals and clinics struggling to recruit physicians.

Now, one year after Hinson voted to defund the organization, Planned Parenthood is announcing that they’re closing its Iowa City Clinic, which “leaves just one brick-and-mortar clinic location in the state” in Des Moines and a new Iowa law will go into effect today that puts up more road blocks for women seeking reproductive care.

“Ashley Hinson’s vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill is leaving Iowa women with almost nowhere left to go for critical reproductive healthcare services,” said Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson Drew Myers. “Hinson has since spent her time in public office laser-focused on a radical anti-choice agenda that includes worsening Iowa’s OB-GYN crisis and sponsoring a complete national abortion ban. Come November, Iowans won’t forget her betrayal.”

Read About the Challenges Iowans Face in Accessing Reproductive Care One Year After the One Big Beautiful Bill Was Signed into Law: 

  • Planned Parenthood is closing its Iowa City clinic as the organization faces political and financial headwinds.
  • The reduction in services leaves just one brick-and-mortar clinic location in the state after others have closed their doors over the past year amid funding threats from the Trump Administration and GOP lawmakers, state laws restricting abortion access and an increase in uncompensated care due to Medicaid cuts.
  • The organization will consolidate its Iowa services to the Susan Knapp Health Center in Des Moines while continuing to offer virtual care statewide, Planned Parenthood North Central States announced Monday, June 29. The Planned Parenthood of Iowa City Health Clinic will close July 31.
  • “We are in the hardest moment for the reproductive freedom movement in modern day history,” Planned Parenthood North Central States President and CEO Ruth Richardson said in a statement.
  • In May 2025, the organization announced the closure of four of its then six brick-and-mortar sites, including those in Ames, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City and Urbandale.
  • Before then, state and federal funding cuts led to the closure of four clinics in Bettendorf, Burlington, Keokuk and Sioux City in 2017.
  • The organization closed several locations in 2023 in the south side of Des Moines, Cedar Falls and Council Bluffs.
  • When America celebrates its 250th birthday this year, it will also mark the day a 2025 provision, which cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, is set to expire. Part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the provision made it impossible for patients with Medicaid to use their federal health insurance at Planned Parenthood clinics—effectively defunding Planned Parenthood nationwide. 
  • Even if funding is restored on July 4, the damage across the country and in Iowa is done: Four of the state’s six Planned Parenthood clinics closed from the combined effects of the Medicaid and Title X defundings. 
  • Medicaid does not cover abortions as a rule, so the provision—passed by Congressional Republicans, including Iowa’s Rep. Randy Feenstra, Rep. Ashley Hinson, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and Rep. Zach Nunn, and Sen. Chuck Grassley and Sen. Joni Ernst—was going after low-income Americans seeking a host of other medical services, from cancer screenings to preventative care.
  • “These attacks are making it harder for Iowans to get access to just the basic healthcare services they need,” said Ruth Richardson, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States. 

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