Iowa Senate passes abortion-funding restriction

DES MOINES - The GOP-led Iowa Senate voted Thursday to earmark about $3 million in state money to fund women's health care clinics that do not offer abortion - a change opponents claimed would result in more unplanned pregnancies and fewer services in a political move to target Planned Parenthood.

Senate File 2, which passed 30-20, would discontinue a federal Medicaid waiver on July 1 that provides millions of dollars in funding to family planning providers across the state. The 29 co-sponsoring Republicans voted for the bill along with independent Sen. David Johnson of Ocheyedan, while 20 Democrats opposed it.

Proponents of the bill that now goes to the Iowa House for likely passage and has Gov. Terry Branstad's support would create a new state-funded program that would exclude facilities that provide abortions from receiving the funds. To cover the new program, the state would shift money from a federal block grant that pays for child and family services.

'This bill will not eliminate family planning funding for services for needy Iowa women. This bill does not change laws regarding abortion,” said Sen. Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, the bill's floor manager.

'It's a measured attempt to balance the reproductive health care needs of Iowa's working poor with the objections of the taxpayers to tangibly subsidize that option through public support in shared facilities,” she added, noting that some Medicaid and teen pregnancy/sex education programs would not be affected.

More than 12,000 Iowans received services through the federal waiver program, including Pap smears, birth control and cancer screenings. No state or federal dollars are used to fund abortions.

Minority Democrats charged the bill 'guts” Iowa's Family Planning Network, a program that they said has helped more than 80,000 Iowa women and men access family planning services since 2006.

'I've never seen such a horrible bill come before this chamber. This bill is taking us back to the Middle Ages,” said Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines.

'We know the Iowa Family Planning Waiver works. It has helped reduce abortions and Medicaid costs in Iowa,” said Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines.

'This bill is bad for Iowa women and families. It will create more unintended pregnancies, more high risk pregnancies, and cost Iowa taxpayers more. Iowans don't support it. Doctors warn against it. We should listen to them and reject it,” she added.

During a sometimes rancorous debate that spanned nearly three hours, Democrats contended the legislation action was a rushed political response to fulfill GOP campaign promises to defund Planned Parenthood of the Heartland at the expense of Iowa women without a clearly defined program and funding stream to replace it.

Republicans agreed that it was a anti-abortion priority but said Planned Parenthood's operations would not be affected because they would be free to continue operating their clinics in Iowa minus any taxpayer funding.

'Our debate in this room affects real Iowans who are receiving real services today. Our focus needs to be on those Iowans and our responsibility to them,' said Sen. Nate Boulton, D-Des Moines. 'What we are doing here is harming a working system based on old political battle lines and Iowa women are going to receive less access to health care as a result.”

Boulton's comments that included references to the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court abortion ruling drew a pointed response from Sinclair, who told him 'I don't know how old you are but your mom could have chosen for you to not to be here.” Democrats immediately objected and Sinclair retracted the statement and apologized to Boulton and his mother after a brief meeting of senators with Senate President Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, to cool things down in the Senate well.

Earlier during the debate, Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, took Democrats to task, telling his Senate colleagues 'I am so ashamed of the tone of this debate - catty, accusatory and argumentative. Come on, we can do better than that.”

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