Iowa

Now that Iowa’s 6-week abortion ban is in effect, what options do women have for care?

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2 years ago

August 1, 2024

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Now that Iowa’s 6-week abortion ban is in effect, what options do women have for care?

With Iowa’s six-week abortion ban in effect, what options do women have for their reproductive care?

The state’s new law prohibits abortion when fetal cardiac activity can be detected on an ultrasound, typically at about six weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest, fatal fetal anomalies and to save the life of the pregnant woman.

The state ban drastically limits abortion clinics’ operations and further shifts the legal landscape in the Midwest. Iowa now joins 22 states that have enacted some type of abortion ban since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed reproductive rights nationwide for half a century.

Here’s what women should know:

More: What you should know about Iowa’s 6-week abortion ban that is now in effect

What do abortion laws look like in states surrounding Iowa?

Missouri bans abortion in almost all circumstances. The state law has limited exceptions to save the pregnant woman’s life and to prevent serious risk to the pregnant woman’s physical health.

South Dakota also has a total ban on abortion, except in cases when it’s required to save the pregnant woman’s life. Anyone who provides an illegal abortion could face a felony charge punishable by up to two years in prison.

Nebraska law bans abortion at 12-weeks pregnancy, with limited exceptions, and requires patients seeking abortions to undergo counseling and a 24-hour waiting period.

Kansas and Wisconsin have less restrictive abortion bans, but those states do not have laws or legal precedence that offer the same protections as other states.

In Kansas, abortion is illegal at 22 weeks of pregnancy. Wisconsin law prohibits the procedure at 22 weeks and requires patients to undergo a 24-hour waiting period before obtaining an abortion.

Which states surrounding Iowa protect abortion access?

Abortion is protected in Illinois and Minnesota.

There are no gestational limits on abortion in Minnesota, nor any other restrictions surrounding the procedure.

In Illinois, abortion is legal until the pregnancy reaches “viability,” or the stage when a fetus is developed enough to survive outside the uterus without medical help.

What does access to abortion care look like in other states?

Because of Illinois’ and Minnesota’s protections, health care providers and other abortion rights advocates say they will have channel resources or otherwise help Iowa patients travel to these states now that Iowa’s ban is in effect.

Iowa law does not prohibit residents from traveling out-of-state to seek abortion care.

Just under a dozen clinics throughout Minnesota provide in-person abortion care, meaning some patients may have to travel as far as the Twin Cities to find an appointment. However, that does not include telemedicine and other options meant to help patients access abortion pills through the mail.

Illinois has a much greater availability of in-person abortion clinics, according to abortionfinder.org. That’s on top of virtual providers and abortion pill mail delivery.

Planned Parenthood North Central States President and CEO Ruth Richardson said the organization has been expanding capacity in clinics near Iowa’s border, including the organization’s Mankato clinic in Minnesota. The organization has also expanded clinic space at its location in Omaha.

However, Iowa’s ban comes as Illinois and Minnesota already saw a huge surge in out-of-state patients seeking care last year, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a policy and research organization that supports reproductive health access.

Data shows Illinois experienced the largest increase in the number of patients traveling from other states, with more than 37,000 people traveling into the state for abortion care last year.

Guttmacher found about 3,000 patients traveled to Minnesota from other states — including some from as far as Texas — last year.

More: Iowa’s new 6-week abortion ban expected to become a pivotal election issue this November

How are abortion rights advocates helping patients travel for care out-of-state?

In light of abortion bans nationwide, websites have been established to help patients find appointments near them, such as abortionfinder.org or ineedana.com.

Planned Parenthood also has a similar website for its clinics. Advocates in Iowa have also established a website, freedomiowa.com, that includes options for resources for those affected by the state ban.

But for some patients, finding an available appointment is just one step in a challenging process to access abortion care, some advocates say.

Many patients, especially those who are low-income or are part of marginalized communities, may lack transportation, or be unable to find reliable childcare or take time off work for out-of-state care.

Advocacy organizations in Iowa say they are prepared to help patients overcome these barriers. Planned Parenthood North Central States, which includes Iowa, employs patient navigators to help patients find an appointment and to access financial aid to afford expenses related to that care.

The Iowa Abortion Access Fund recently partnered with the Chicago Abortion Fund to help manage the anticipated influx from Iowa. The organization offers grants to Iowans to help pay for the procedure as well as other related expenses, such as travel, lodging and childcare.

Iowa Abortion Access Fund is directing clients to contact Chicago Abortion Fund directly by calling (312) 663-0338 or by filling out an online form.

Michaela Ramm covers health care for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at mramm@registermedia.com, at (319) 339-7354 or on Twitter at @Michaela_Ramm.

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Iowa

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

Published

5 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

Wrestling-Women

March 5, 2026

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

March 5, 2026

Kylie Welker chats with NCAA Digital’s Sophie Starkey about the success of Iowa women’s wrestling and the possibility of winning the inaugural NCAA sanctioned championship.

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Iowa

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Published

17 hours ago

March 5, 2026

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Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Iowans who commit multiple serious crimes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a “three strikes” bill passed by House lawmakers.
Republicans said the bill would keep Iowans safe and “prioritize victims and public safety over criminals.”
A nonpartisan state agency says the bill would disproportionately impact Black Iowans and could require the state to spend millions to build a new prison.

Repeat offenders convicted of multiple serious crimes would receive a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a bill passed by House lawmakers.

House lawmakers debated for more than an hour about high costs, lack of prison space and the bill’s impact on Black Iowans before voting 68-23 to pass House File 2542, sending it to the Iowa Senate.

Seven Democrats, including Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.

“It will put public safety first,” said the bill’s floor manager, Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison. “It will ensure that the debt to victims and society is paid. It will prioritize victims and public safety over criminals. It will establish real and effective deterrence that is nonexistent in our current system. It will reduce chaos and violence in our society.”

Here’s what to know about the bill.

What would the House Republican three strikes bill do?

Iowans who accumulate three strikes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence, with no parole, under the bill.

That would replace Iowa’s current law that says habitual offenders must serve a minimum three-year prison sentence before they are eligible for parole.

All felonies, as well as aggravated misdemeanors involving sexual abuse, domestic abuse, assault and organized retail theft would be considered level-one offenses that are worth one full strike.

Other aggravated misdemeanors, as well as serious misdemeanors involving assault, domestic abuse and criminal mischief would be considered level-two offenses worth half a strike each.

Lawmakers amended the bill to remove theft, harassment and possession of a controlled substance from the crimes that would count toward a person’s strikes.

And the amendment specifies that the bill would only apply to convictions that occur beginning July 1, 2026.

If someone is arrested and convicted of multiple offenses, only the most serious charge would count towards the defendant’s strikes.

Convictions would not count toward someone’s total if more than 20 years passes between a prior conviction and their current conviction.

Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to say that only a violent crime would qualify as someone’s third strike, but Republicans rejected the amendment.

“The bill still scores murder, felony embezzlement and felony theft the same, even though they are very different crimes,” Wilburn said. “One point is one point and three gets you 20 years with no ability for parole or judicial discretion.”

Holt said the legislation leaves room for judicial and prosecutorial discretion.

“There are deferred sentences, there are plea bargains,” he said. “There is plenty of opportunity for grace and judicial discretion in the legislation that we are proposing.”

Bill could cost millions, require Iowa to build a new prison, agency says

A fiscal analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency said it could cost Iowa nearly $165 million more per year by 2031 based on the cost of housing inmates for longer prison stays.

FY 2027: $33 million
FY 2028: $66 million
FY 2029: $99 million
FY 2030: $132 million
FY 2031: $164.9 million

The agency said if the bill had been in effect between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2025, there would have been 5,373 people who qualified for the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.

“An increase in the prison population due to increased (length of stay) will require the DOC to build additional prison(s),” the agency states. “The size, security and other features that a future prison may require cannot be determined, but costs would be significant.”

The analysis noted that South Dakota appropriated $650 million last fall to build a 1,500-bed prison.

As of March 1, the Iowa Department of Corrections’ website describes the state’s prison system as being overcrowded by 25%, with 8,705 inmates compared to a capacity of 6,990.

The Office of the State Public Defender could see a projected cost increase of $1.6 million due to an increased number of trials resulting from the legislation.

But the agency’s estimates come with a caveat — the Department of Corrections did not respond to its requests for data.

“The LSA has not received a response to multiple requests for information from the DOC,” the note states. “Without additional information, the LSA cannot estimate the total fiscal impact of the bill.”

Holt called the fiscal note “an embarrassment to the Department of Corrections” and “an agenda masquerading as math.”

“It is clear, in my judgment, that because they did not like the legislation they went all out and extreme to create a fiscal note that cannot be taken seriously in its assumptions,” he said. “It assumes that nothing will change, that there will be no deterrent factor and that the numbers will continue as usual.”

Black Iowans would be disproportionately impacted by the law

The Legislative Services Agency analysis says the bill “may disproportionately impact Black individuals if trends remain constant.”

Of the 29,438 people convicted in fiscal year 2025 of felonies and aggravated misdemeanors that constitute a level one offense under the bill, the agency said about 70% were White, 22% were Black and 9% were other races.

Iowa’s overall population is 83% White, 4% Black and 13% other races, the agency said.

It’s not clear how the bill’s impact would change to account for the House amendment removing some crimes from counting towards the three strikes.

“Expanding three-strike laws will intensify disparities — and that’s what this statement shows — by mandating longer sentences, limiting judicial discretion,” Wilburn said. “We already have a habitual offender statute. We already have one in place. We have a 10-year low in recidivism in our correctional system.”

Rep. Angel Ramirez, D-Cedar Rapids, said California’s three strikes law, passed in the 1990s, worsened racial disparities, and “Iowa is about to repeat the same mistake.”

“I urge every member here, do not pass legislation that our own minority impact statement tells us will deepen inequality in our state,” Ramirez said.

Holt said minority communities in Iowa are impacted by crime and that the legislation “will make citizens of all colors safer.”

And he said the minority impact statement “tells only one side of the story, doesn’t it? It tells the criminal’s story. What about the victim’s story?”

“What about the mother who will continue to tuck her kids in at night and read them Bible stories because she never became the next victim of a violent career criminal?” he said. “Where is that data point in the minority impact statement?”

House lawmakers also approved separate legislation that would increase Iowa’s statewide bond schedule, Senate File 2399.

That bill passed on a vote of 74-19.

Iowans could see more information on judges’ rulings

Iowans would have access to more information about judges’ rulings ahead of the state’s judicial retention elections under a separate measure, House File 2719, which passed on a 73-19 vote.

The Iowa secretary of state’s office would be required to publish information including:

The percentage of cases in which the judge set a bond amount lower than the state’s bond schedule
The frequency that the judge releases someone on their own recognizance for a violent offense compared to a nonviolent offense
The frequency that the judge’s final sentence is lower than statutory recommendations or a prosecutor’s recommendations
The number of times the judge issues a deferred judgement, deferred sentence or suspended sentence
The number of times the judge’s rulings are reversed on appeal due to abuse of discretion or error of law
The average time it takes the judge to rule on a motion or case
The number of cases the judge has resolved compared to the number of cases on the judge’s docket

The data would have to be displayed with a five-year trend line beginning five years after the bill takes effect.

The Secretary of State’s Office would also be required to maintain a searchable database of all judicial opinions and orders for the judge’s current term and the preceding six years. The decisions would be redacted when appropriate.

And judges would have the opportunity to write a 2,000-word personal statement on their judicial philosophy or data trends present in their rulings.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.

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Iowa

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Luke Truesdell’s attorney has filed as of Sunday to appeal his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Truesdell was sentenced last week to three consecutive life sentences plus 50 years for the deaths of four people killed in rural Linn County.

A jury convicted Luke Truesdell, 36, in November on the first-degree murder of Brent Brown, 34; his girlfriend, Keonna Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids; and Amanda Parker, 33, of Vinton. They also found him guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Romondus Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids.

His attorneys previously argued multiple reasons for a retrial that could potentially be brought up again.

They said that one juror was overheard talking about news on the case.

They also said the prosecutors inflamed the jury, rather than focusing on the facts.

His lawyers said there is no direct evidence that Truesdell committed the murders.

Truesdell’s defense also pointed to Truesdell’s father, Larry Tuesdell, who was found covered in blood at the scene but never fully investigated. Authorities have not been able to locate Larry.

The state disagreed, citing overwhelming evidence including DNA on the murder weapon, eyewitness testimony and video of Truesdell entering the garage where the four people were found dead.

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