As much as I appreciate Iowa’s efforts to contribute to Chicago’s tourism industry — and I can tell we’ve got a lot of tourists this year, just by the sheer numbers of people on Michigan Avenue patiently waiting for the little walking man to light up before crossing the entirely empty street — outlawing abortion after six weeks is not the way to do it.
But here we are! The Iowa Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the state’s no-good-very-bad ban on abortion after six weeks — before many even know they are pregnant — is just fine, despite a lower court’s ruling blocking it from going into effect. The Court itself, unsurprisingly, is made up of six conservative justices appointed by Governor Kim Reynolds, none of whom have any chance of getting knocked up themselves.
The law does allow some exceptions. Abortions will be allowed in cases of rape, although the victim will be required to report the assault to police within 45 days and, in cases of incest, within 140 days — which is a lot to ask of sexual assault victims, particularly given how rape victims are often treated by law enforcement. It will also be allowed to save the life of a pregnant person or in cases of fatal fetal abnormalities.
As Iowa resident Lyz Lenz points out at MSNBC, this decision will not just have devastating consequences for those who are pregnant and don’t want to be and those with high-risk pregnancies, it will also hurt those with wanted, normal-level-of-risk-but-still-need-medical-care pregnancies. The state already has a shortage of reproductive care and maternal health services, and this law will make it so even fewer OB-GYNs will practice there.
She writes:
A study done by the nonprofit March of Dimes found that one-third of Iowa counties are maternal care deserts, which means they have no maternity wards, no OB-GYNs and no birthing centers.
As many as 61% of Iowa hospitals have no labor and delivery wards. And Iowa currently ranks 49th of the 50 states, second only to Arkansas, for maternal care, with 1.49 obstetricians per 10,000 women.
That same study found that 41.4% of Iowa women live in counties where they cannot access reproductive care services, and live with “very high or high vulnerability” to “adverse outcomes” such as an unexpected pregnancy, preterm birth, anxiety and depression.
Clearly, this is a bad situation, and Republicans in the Iowa legislature and Governor Kim Reynolds have no problem with making it worse.
OB-GYNs — particularly those trained in dealing with high-risk pregnancies — have been fleeing abortion ban states, medical students have avoided doing their residencies in them, and labor and delivery units have closed. Why? Because, weirdly enough, no one wants to go to prison for providing their patients with the standard of care appropriate for their given situations.
“As the heartbeat bill finally becomes law, we are deeply committed to supporting women in planning for motherhood, and promoting fatherhood and its importance in parenting,” Reynolds wrote on social media. That is all well and good, but also not all that helpful if no one can get the necessary care they need while they are pregnant or get to a labor and delivery unit in time.
Sixty percent of Iowans support the right to abortion, but, unfortunately, it’s a lot more difficult for them to pass an amendment to the state constitution in Iowa than it is in many other states. In order for that to happen, it must first pass through the state’s legislature, which is obviously very unlikely to happen right now given the Republican majority.
Hopefully, for those who don’t want to sacrifice access to maternal care for the joy of forcing people to give birth against their will, Iowans will get on it and get those Republicans out of office so that a constitutional amendment protecting their right to abortion care can be brought to the voters.
Because as much as we love tourists coming to our fair city of Chicago and to Illinois in general, we’d really rather they come here on vacation, in order to spend some nice time at the Field Museum, on the architecture boat tour or perhaps just checking out the very confusing giant Starbucks or places they’ve seen on “The Bear” in real life than have to spend it in our abortion clinics.
PREVIOUSLY:
OK- One more quick comment before I go about my normal day. This court has, within days, ruled that the executive branch as a governing apparatus, has no power while at the same time the president, our chief executive, is essentially a king above the law. This seems intellectually inconsistent. However, it is ideologically consistent, sort of, I guess. I am going to make breakfast and ignore the sick, sinking sensation. Hey- is that an iceberg up ahead?
Sotomayor...
"Let the President violate the law, let him exploit the trappings of his office for personal gain, let him use his official power for evil ends. Because if he knew that he may one day face liability for breaking the law, he might not be as bold and fearless as we would like him to be. That is the majority’s message today. Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done. The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.” “Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”
***
Shoot Trump in the face along with six SCOTUS Justices? Immune, immune, immune, immune, immune, immune, immune.