DES MOINES, IA—Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced today she will seek another term as Governor. A self-proclaimed anti-abortion advocate, Reynolds has successfully harmed sexual and reproductive health care out and led to a public health crisis, as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) skyrocket and unintended pregnancies have increased. Under her leadership, abortions in Iowa have increased more than 40 percent in the past two years.
Reynolds is credited with decimating the state’s family planning program, defunding the state’s largest provider of comprehensive sex education and placing medically-unnecessary restrictions on abortion care, including a medically unnecessary 24-hour waiting period. She also was key in the passage of a six-week abortion ban, which was later struck down by Iowa courts.
“Iowans cannot afford another four years of Gov. Kim Reynolds’ failed leadership,” said Sheena Dooley, Communications Manager of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa. “Her antiquated policies have left Iowans worse off than before she took office. Instead of proposing solutions to the multiple public health crises facing Iowa, Reynolds put her efforts into further curtailing Iowans’ access to reproductive health care. For the first time, Iowa faces the very real possibility that safe and legal abortion will be outlawed in a few short years. Iowa is headed down a dangerous path that will have ramifications for generations to come.”
Iowans’ access to safe and legal abortion hangs by a thread, as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to undo the federal abortion protection established almost 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade, sending abortion regulation back to the states. Iowa’s constitution protects abortion, but Gov. Reynolds and other Republicans are pushing a constitutional amendment to strip Iowans of their reproductive freedom. The Iowa Supreme Court is also expected to rule by the end of June in a 24-hour abortion waiting period case that could reverse the precedent established by the Court in 2018. In the absence of federal and state constitutional protections for safe and legal abortion, Iowa lawmakers would have the unchecked authority to restrict abortion.
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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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