Des Moines, IA— Iowa lawmakers who want to outlaw abortion in the state advanced bills Wednesday that would place medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion. One bill would require abortion providers to give patients scientifically unfounded and dangerous information when receiving medication abortion. Legislators also passed a bill out of subcommittee that places unnecessary and cumbersome reporting requirements on abortion providers.
HF2119 would require abortion pills to be administered in a health care facility, preventing them from being dispensed by mail or in a pharmacy. An amendment added in committee requires providers to post information in their waiting areas and doctors to give patients information not supported by science about so-called “abortion reversals.”
HF2210 would require duplicative, unnecessary and likely costly changes to the current abortion reporting requirements and create a database documenting abortions in Iowa. The Iowa Department of Public Health already lacks the capacity to provide timely reports about reproductive health care, such as the family planning program and Sexually Transmitted Infections. The requirements also fail to provide sufficient confidentiality protections.
“The bills do not address any patient needs. Their only aim is to further chip away at Iowans’ right to safe and legal abortion to the point that is no longer accessible,” said Jamie Burch Elliott, Public Affairs Director for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa. “Iowans deserve the ability to make their own medical decisions with their doctor, their family and their faith. Planned Parenthood is proud to provide safe, legal abortion care, and we will continue to fight to preserve Iowans’ reproductive freedom. Republican lawmakers’ current efforts in Iowa are not about improving the health of Iowans but instead taking away their fundamental rights. If these politicians truly valued life, they would get to work solving public health crises like rising maternal mortality rates and alarming increases in STIs across the state.”
Leading medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, do not support such measures, saying they are not supported by science and these unfounded legislative mandates represent dangerous political interference, while compromising patient care and safety. Doctors who fail to comply with this bill would be subject to disciplinary action being taken against their license.
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Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa (PPAI) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with a mission of fostering and preserving a social and political climate favorable to reproductive health. To meet this mission, PPAI engages in lobbying, issues education, and supporter mobilization.
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