Des Moines, Iowa—Iowa lawmakers gaveled out of the 2022 legislative session early Tuesday morning after approving a measure that diverts $500,000 in taxpayer dollars to fund so-called Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs), anti-abortion clinics that prey on pregnant people by manipulating and preventing individuals from accessing abortion. The governor is expected to sign the legislation.
Republican lawmakers backing the effort folded the original CPC funding bill (SF2381) into the Health and Human Services budget and stripped it of an extension of postpartum Medicaid coverage from three months to 12 months.
“This legislative session was far from a win for Iowans and the priorities passed do nothing to advance this state,” said Sheena Dooley, Communications Manager at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa. “Lawmakers who want to ban abortion sold this harmful program funding anti-abortion clinics to Iowans, saying they cared about new mothers. If they really wanted to help Iowa parents, they wouldn’t have stripped the original proposal’s expansion of postpartum Medicaid coverage which allows Iowans to access actual medical care from licensed providers. We deserve better from the people elected to represent us. Our state can’t continue this backwards slide. And it’s not what Iowans want.”
In addition to funding CPCs, lawmakers also this session banned female transexual athletes from competing in K-12 school and college sports. They did, however, pass legislation making feminine hygiene products tax exempt.
Republican lawmakers kept their word and did not pass any bills restricting abortion this session. They have said, instead, they are awaiting rulings from the Iowa Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court in June in cases that challenge state and federal constitutional abortion protections. If Iowans lose both layers of protection, state lawmakers and the governor would have the unchecked authority to ban abortion in Iowa.
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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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