Iowa's GOP AG has stopped funding for emergency contraception and abortion for victims of sexual assault, say reports
AP Photo/Charlie Neibergal
- The Iowa AG Office has paused funding emergency contraception and abortion for victims of sexual assault.
- The CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States described the move as "deplorable."
- The Iowa decison comes as abortion access across the US may become even more inaccessible.
The Iowa Attorney General's Office has ceased funding emergency contraception and abortion for victims of sexual assault.
Under Iowa's previous Democrat attorney general, Tom Miller, the state provided funding for Plan B – the emergency contraceptive pill – and in rare cases, paid for abortions. However, it was announced on Saturday that Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird, elected last fall, had decided to pause the funding.
"As a part of her top-down, bottom-up audit of victim assistance, Attorney General Bird is carefully evaluating whether this is an appropriate use of public funds," Bird's Press Secretary Alyssa Brouillet said in a statement per the local news outlet Des Moines Register. "Until that review is complete, payment of these pending claims will be delayed," said Brouillet.
Federal regulations and state law only require Iowa to cover the cost of forensic exams and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.
Ruth Richardson, CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, described the decision as "deplorable and reprehensible," per the Des Moines Register.
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The move comes as abortion access across the US may become even more inaccessible. On Friday, a Trump-appointed Texas judge issued a ruling to suspend the FDA's approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, the most common method of abortion.
A conservative Christian legal advocacy group, Alliance Defending Freedom, alleged the Food and Drug Administration did not appropriately regulate the drug and it could harm women.
President Joe Biden said in a statement on Friday that the ruling was "another unprecedented step in taking away basic freedoms from women and putting their health at risk."
On Friday, the Department of Justice said it would challenge the Texas ruling, and mifepristone remains available in states where it was already legal to purchase for at least one more week.