DES MOINES — A House subcommittee heard impassioned pleas Monday from abortion opponents and Planned Parenthood supporters trying to influence legislators looking at a bill that would revamp how state money is distributed among women's health-care clinics in Iowa.
Three members of a House Human Resources Committee listened to 23 speakers make appeals — some who had personal stories about abortion experiences, others who spokes favorably of pregnancy-related and other services they received under Iowa's current service provider system.
At issue was a Senate-passed bill that seeks 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.
Maggie DeWitte, executive director of Iowans for Life and a member of a coalition of pro-life groups supporting the change, said coalition members are convinced in talking with 157 clinics that reallocating family planning dollars will provide comprehensive health care all across Iowa.
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Danny Carroll, a former state legislator who was Iowa GOP chairman and now lobbies for the Family Leader, said Iowa voters spoke loud and clear last November "they do not want their tax dollars subsidizing abortion."
Critics noted that no state or federal dollars are used to fund abortions, and that unplanned pregnancies and the number of abortions performed in Iowa have declined over the last several decades. More than 12,000 Iowans received services through the federal waiver program, including Pap smears, birth control and cancer screenings.
"Senate File 2 will be devastating to low-income women in Iowa," said Erin Davison-Rippey, an official with Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, who noted that other clinics around Iowa "are simply not prepared or equipped to absorb" the influx of patients that will be triggered by Iowa's change of approach.
Senate File 2 would discontinue a federal Medicaid waiver on July 1 that provides millions of dollars in funding to family planning providers across the state. 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.
"There's nothing in the bill that adds providers. It simply removes them," countered Davison-Rippey. "We're not simply talking about philosophical differences. We're talking about the health and safety of Iowans."
