Abortion providers are bracing for Iowa’s near total abortion ban to take effect on Monday.

In Illinois, the Chicago Abortion Fund, a group which provides referrals and funds to those seeking abortions, saw a 165 percent increase in support requests from patients in Iowa this month, it told The Washington Post.

“It’s staggering even to me,” the group’s executive director Megan Jeyifo said.

Last month, the Iowa Supreme Court lifted a hold on a 2023 state law, banning abortions in most cases after six weeks, after a lower court temporarily blocked the law.

The ban will now take effect Monday morning.

In preparation, Planned Parenthood told NBC News it’s expanding services in surrounding states like Illinois, Minnesota, and Nebraska.

“We are standing by ready to help patients receive access to care, even if that means traveling out of state,” Ruth Richardson, president of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said.

The Emma Goldman Clinic, based in Iowa City, said it will seek to support patients who need to travel out of state now for care.

“We will help those for whom we are unable to provide abortion services to navigate the logistics of seeking care in other states,” it said in a statement.”

Prior to the 2023 law, which contains exceptions for rape, incest, fetal abnormality, and lethal risks to the mother, Iowa banned abortions after 22 weeks.

Abortions expected to drop 97 percent once the new law takes effect, according to Planned Parenthood.

Don’t forget to check the water quality reports if you head to the beach this weekend. More than a few beaches are not recommended for swimming.

A total of 13 beaches are not recommended for swimming this week. High E. coli levels were reported at 12 beaches and high algal toxin levels were reported at two.

Wondering how can you check up on water monitoring, beach classifications and know what locations are open or closed? Iowa Department of Natural Resources tracks it all and updates the public weekly on its website and using a phone hotline at 515-725-3434.

The DNR collects weekly samples at 39 state-owned swimming beaches to determine the public’s risk of coming in contact with waterborne diseases. Testing starts a week prior to Memorial Day and runs through Labor Day. 

What Iowa beaches are not recommended for swimming?

Backbone Lake

• Beach classification: Vulnerable
• Last test date: July 24

Beeds Lake

• Beach classification: Vulnerable
• Last test date: July 23

Black Hawk Lake

• Beach classification: Less vulnerable
• Last test date: July 23

Blue Lake

• Beach classification: Less vulnerable
• Last test date: July 23

Denison Beach

• Beach classification: Less vulnerable
• Last test date: July 23

George Wyth Lake

• Beach classification: Vulnerable
• Last test date: July 24

Lake Ahquabi

• Beach classification: Less vulnerable
• Last test date: July 24

Lake Darling

• Beach classification: Vulnerable
• Last test date: July 24

Lake of Three Fires

• Beach classification: Less vulnerable
• Last test date: July 24

Nine Eagles Lake

• Beach classification: Vulnerable
• Last test date: July 23

Pleasant Creek Lake

• Beach classification: Less vulnerable
• Last test date: July 24

Rock Creek Lake

• Beach classification: Less vulnerable
• Last test date: July 24

Union Grove Lake

• Beach classification: Vulnerable
• Last test date: July 24

West Okoboji Lake

• Beach classification: Vulnerable
• Last test date: July 24

What Iowa beaches have a special status?

Lake Keomah: Monitoring by DNR has been suspended for the 2024 season. The DNR expected to start draining the lake on July 9 for a major renovation and water quality improvement project that will last until spring 2026.

What Iowa beaches have improved to ‘OK for swimming’?

Three beaches previously considered “not recommended for swimming” in Week 9 data, posted on July 19, are now OK for swimming:

• Pheasant Creek Beach
• Emerson Bay Beach
• Denison Beach

How does the Iowa DNR classify Iowa’s beaches based on their water quality?

DNR officials classify state park beaches into one of three categories annually based on their history of bacteria results in recent years:

Vulnerable: Beaches are considered vulnerable when the geometric mean standard is exceeded in three or more of the five most recent sampling seasons.

Transitional: The beach’s geometric mean standard is exceeded in two or fewer sampling seasons of the five most recent years of monitoring and was listed as “vulnerable” in the past monitoring seasons.

Less vulnerable: The beach’s geometric mean standard is exceeded in two or fewer sampling seasons of the five most recent years of monitoring and was listed as “transitional” or “less vulnerable” in past monitoring seasons.

Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez is a general assignment reporter for the Register. Reach her at vreynarodriguez@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter @VictoriaReynaR.

It was never a matter of if for United States Olympian and recent Iowa commit Kennedy Blades, but a matter of when.

Blades is one of the premier talents in the United States’ pool of youth wrestlers. She made waves initially by becoming the first girl to win a boys state championship in the state of Illinois while in high school, before cementing her status as an elite wrestler by reaching the U.S. Olympic Trials best-of-three finals at the age of 17.

Blades’ opponent in the finals was none other than Adeline Gray, a six-time World champion who had set the standard for women’s wrestling in the U.S. When Gray won her first World title, Blades was just 9, and Gray continued her career in the most dominant and consistent way possible.

Blades came up short, losing to Gray (who went on to win silver in the 2020/21 Tokyo Olympics). At that moment, Blades was not quite up to the task.

Fast forward to today. Blades has beaten Gray once (at the 2023 U.S. Open) but lost to her again at Final X. Maybe the torch had been passed, but there was enough doubt that it hadn’t and that Gray may have one more Olympic run in her.

This time at the Olympic Trials at age 20, Blades left little doubt, rolling through to the Olympic Trials finals once again by winning three matches by a total score of 33-1. Facing Gray once again, Blades triumphed with an 11-6 and an 8-3 decision over Gray to become an Olympian.

“It didn’t go my way when I was 17, but I knew I could beat her because I did it before so it’s obviously possible,” Blades said. “I just trusted my training and I literally just said, ‘full send.’”

Now, the Iowa women’s wrestling program has its first Olympian after Blades made her way to Iowa City a couple months after clinching the spot. A dream has been realized as Blades now carries the torch as one of the country’s best wrestlers.

“This was honestly my goal since I was seven. 2024 was definitely my goal,” Blades said. “I’ve never even made a Senior World Team so it’s just amazing to think I made an Olympic team.”

Here’s everything you need to know about Blades’ upcoming test, from her opponents to when she will wrestle.

Opponents in Kennedy Blades’ bracket

Blades showed she is capable of beating anyone in the world with her wins over Gray, but it doesn’t get any easier when she arrives in Paris.

Aiperi Medt Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan is the No. 1 seed at 76 kilograms, a 25-year-old World silver medalist in 2023 and a World bronze medalist in 2021. She thrashed Gray at the Zagreb Open in Croatia in a 10-0 technical fall. She’s wrestled in six World Championships prior to making this year’s Olympic team.

The 2023 World champion at 76 kilograms, and perhaps the favorite in Paris, is Yuka Kagami of Japan. At age 23, she is a World champion and a World bronze medalist. Japan is the top women’s wrestling country in the world.

No. 2 seed Kagami is followed by No. 3 seed Tatiana Renteria of Columbia, a World bronze medalist in 2023.

Rounding out the top five seeds are Catalina Axente of Romania and Milaimys Marin of Cuba. Both took fifth in their respective weight classes at the World Championships a year ago. Mari defeated Blades at the Spanish Grand Prix this summer by a 13-4 score, so there will need to be a game-plan adjustment for Blades if these two face off again.

There also are three other former Olympians in this field in Nigeria’s Hannah Rueben (14th in 2016), Tunisia’s Zaineb Sghaier (16th in 2020) and Turkey’s Yasemin Adar Yigit (bronze medalist in 2020). Of those three, only Rueben is seeded at No. 6.

Combine those with former World medalists in Canada’s Justina Di Stasio (World champion in 2018) and Mongolia’s Davaanasan Enkh Amar (World silver medalist in 2023), this is a field full of experienced and talented wrestlers.

Blades has as much talent as anyone in the world as an offensive dynamo, but the question will be whether her talent will show through again as it did at the Olympic Trials or if she’ll need more experience to compete at an Olympic level.

Full field of wrestlers in 76-kilogram bracket

• No. 1 Aiperi Medt Kyzy (Kyrgyzstan)
• No. 2 Yuka Kagami (Japan)
• No. 3 Tatiana Renteria (Columbia)
• No. 4 Catalina Axente (Romania)
• No. 5 Milaimys Marin (Cuba)
• No. 6 Hannah Rueben (Nigeria)
• No. 7 Justina Di Stasio (Canada)
• No. 8 Bernadett Nagy (Hungary)
• Yuliana Yaneva (Bulgaria)
• Juan Wang (Chia)
• Genesis Reasco Valdez (Ecuador)
• Reetika (India)
• Davaanasan Enkh Amar (Mongolia)
• Zaineb Sghaier (Tunisia)
• Yasemin Adar Yigit (Turkey)
• Kennedy Blades (United States)

What is repechage?

Repechage is a French word meaning a second chance, and it will be talked about a lot in Paris.

Fans who watched the Last Chance Qualifier that Iowa’s Spencer Lee competed in to qualify for the Olympics may recall what repechage is, but in case this is new to you, here’s an explainer:

Repechage is the consolation-bracket format the Olympics will use. Unlike the traditional wrestleback format seen at high school and collegiate levels here in the U.S., only the athletes who lost to the gold-medal finalists of the tournament will get another shot in the consolations to take as high as third. In other words, a bracket is created comprised of every wrestler who lost to a finalist.

Losers of the semifinal matches get a bye to the semifinals of the repechage, where four other wrestlers are remaining for a chance at bronze. Winners of those semifinal matches will then wrestle for bronze.

When will Kennedy Blades wrestle at Olympics?

Here are the session times for Kennedy Blades’ matches. Times aren’t an exact science here, but these are the scheduled session times via the Olympics. Blades would wrestle in the repechage matches on Aug. 11 only if she were to lose on Aug. 10 to a gold-medal round finalist as previously mentioned.

All times listed are CT.

• Aug. 10 from 4 a.m to 6:30 a.m: Preliminary rounds and Quarterfinals
• Aug. 10 from 11:15 a.m to 3 p.m: Semifinals
• Aug. 11 from 4 a.m to 7:30 a.m: Repechage
• Aug. 11 from 4 a.m to 7:30 a.m: Medal matches

How to watch Olympic Wrestling

Wrestling will be broadcast live on NBC, as well as being streamed and replay-able on Peacock.

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23