Iowa AG halted Plan B, abortion payments for sexual assault victims

The Iowa Lawyer Basic’s workplace just isn’t presently masking the price of emergency contraception or abortions for Iowans who’re victims of rape or sexual assault, Natalie Krebs reported for Iowa Public Radio on April 7.

Iowa legislation requires the state’s sufferer compensation fund to pay for a sexual assault sufferer’s medical examination “for the aim of gathering proof,” in addition to any therapy “for the aim of stopping venereal illness.” Underneath longtime Lawyer Basic Tom Miller, that fund additionally coated the price of abortion companies or Plan B, treatment that stops ovulation and subsequently being pregnant if administered quickly sufficient following unprotected intercourse.

In a press release offered to Iowa Public Radio, spokesperson Alyssa Brouillet mentioned Lawyer Basic Brenna Hen “is fastidiously evaluating whether or not that is an acceptable use of public funds” as a part of a broader evaluate of sufferer help packages. Cost of “pending claims shall be delayed” till Hen completes her evaluate.

“BEYOND CRUEL”

ACLU of Iowa government director Mark Stringer mentioned in a written assertion, “It’s past merciless for the state to remove much-needed sexual assault medical care from Iowans.” He referred to as it “unconscionable” for the Crime Sufferer Help Division to cease funding care “as a part of some bureaucratic evaluate,” and mentioned Hen “must resume this emergency care now earlier than extra girls are harm because of this.”

Being sexually assaulted is traumatic for survivors and the State of Iowa merely should do the best factor by them. This consists of serving to victims put their lives again collectively and help them on the highway to restoration. As a substitute, this determination penalizes and re-victimizes them.

Authorities help can by no means undo the hurt that these survivors have confronted. However the State of Iowa, and particularly Lawyer Basic Hen, should maintain our promise to crime victims — that we’ll assist them when they’re of their time of want. There is no such thing as a room for politics throughout a criminal offense sufferer’s emergency. We strongly urge Lawyer Basic Hen to rescind this unfair and disturbing withdrawal of emergency medical companies for ladies and assist our folks be as wholesome and secure as potential.

In a press release to Iowa Public Radio, Deliberate Parenthood North Central States CEO Ruth Richardson described Hen’s determination as “abhorrent,” including that “Sexual assault survivors shouldn’t have to fret about how they’re going to cowl the price of well being care after being assaulted. Survivors ought to be capable to get the well being care they want, and which survivors have relied on for years.”

A PATTERN OF QUIET MOVES

Though Hen has proclaimed her “pro-life” beliefs on many events, her workers have averted publicizing a number of of her efforts to scale back entry to abortion.

As an example, information releases from the Lawyer Basic’s workplace typically spotlight Hen’s multi-state authorized actions. However they’ve by no means talked about that she joined Republican counterparts to assist a lawsuit in search of to reverse the Meals and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, a extensively used treatment for abortion and miscarriage care. A U.S. District Courtroom decide in Texas dominated on April 7 to invalidate the FDA’s motion from the 12 months 2000. If allowed to take impact, the ruling might make treatment abortions tougher to acquire even in states the place reproductive rights are assured.

Equally, Hen’s workplace didn’t announce that she co-signed a letter with different attorneys normal to discourage massive pharmacy chains from mailing abortion medicines. One of many focused firms, Walgreens, subsequently advised Hen it is not going to dispense mifepristone in Iowa, regardless that state legislation doesn’t prohibit use of the drug and permits abortion as much as 20 weeks of being pregnant.

The crime sufferer compensation web page on the Lawyer Basic’s web site doesn’t point out any change within the reimbursement coverage for sexual assault victims. Nor has a press launch introduced that change.

Bleeding Heartland filed a public information request with the Lawyer Basic’s workplace in mid-February, in search of copies of the previous and present insurance policies on reimbursing sufferer medical and prescription prices in sexual assault circumstances. The request additionally sought associated memos or emails involving Hen, Chief Deputy Lawyer Basic Sam Langholz, and John Gish, the previous Washington County legal professional whom Hen tapped to guide the Victims Companies Division.

At this writing, the Lawyer Basic’s workplace has not offered any of these paperwork. Brouillet has not defined the seven-week delay, however advised me in an April 4 electronic mail, “We’re persevering with to look into your request and may have a response right here quickly.”

Hen has boasted about one among her abortion-related strikes: her determination to signify Governor Kim Reynolds and the state in a case in search of to reinstate a 2018 abortion ban. Non-public attorneys dealt with that work final 12 months after Miller mentioned he couldn’t “zealously assert the state’s place.”

A Polk County District Courtroom rejected the state’s movement to dissolve an injunction on the 2018 legislation, which might prohibit practically all abortions after about six weeks because the final menstrual interval. The state appealed, and the Iowa Supreme Courtroom is scheduled to listen to oral arguments on April 11. Briefs filed in that case can be found right here.

Disclosure: The ACLU of Iowa is representing Laura Belin, Bleeding Heartland, and different plaintiffs in an open information lawsuit in opposition to the governor’s workplace.

High picture: John Gish (left) and Brenna Hen at a marketing campaign occasion in Washington, Iowa on October 13, 2022. Cropped from a photograph first posted on Gish’s public Fb feed.