Iowa abortion ban takes effect amid health concerns – UPI.com

“Today is a victory for life. There is nothing more sacred and no cause more worthy than protecting the innocent life that has not yet been born,” Reynolds said in a statement last week. “When the fetal heartbeat law goes into effect, our work will continue to strengthen the culture of life in Iowa. I remain deeply committed to supporting women in planning for motherhood, promoting the importance of of the father, raising the child, and protecting in vitro fertilization ” IVF).

The ban could worsen an issue that already exists in the district, Sen. Janet Peterson told UPI. About 62% of rural hospitals in the district do not have obstetricians and do not provide labor or delivery services. In some rural parts of the district a pregnant woman has to walk an hour and a half for antenatal care.

Dr. Emily Boevers is an OB-GYN practicing at a critical access hospital in Iowa. He is also the founding president of Iowans For Health Liberty, an organization that supports access to medical care. She is the only full-time OB-GYN at her hospital, which has two family medicine physicians who help provide care to expectant mothers.

Boevers told UPI that her agency and about 30% of the rest of the country are single workers who can’t do labor and delivery services.

“Introducing the ban on abortion can achieve some of the goals of the governor and legislators. But we are already in a crisis for the health of pregnant women,” he said. “We have increased infant mortality related to access to prenatal care and socioeconomic status. To combine this with prevention at this time, is really kind of missing the mark.”

Care remains at risk as health care facilities face potential cuts, due in part to the fact that the state has one of the lowest Medicaid reimbursement rates in the country. In May, MercyOne stopped offering gynecology oncology services in Des Moines, leaving central Iowa — the state’s most populous region — with a center in and only one to search for such services.

Iowa already has the fewest OB-GYNs in the United States, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Meanwhile, Reynolds announced a net profit of $1.83 billion last fall.

“They’re hoarding tax dollars to build more capital, and Iowans are losing their health care, their education, and a lot of other things,” Petersen said. “The governor also rejected the summer food program for children. We have stricter requirements for new mothers to receive child care assistance.”

Every state that has a voter-initiated change to its constitution has passed it since the United States Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.

Ohio voter-initiated ballot measures halted the six-week ban. Dr. Allison Norris, an Ohio State University assistant professor of public health and chair of WeCount — a nonprofit organization that measures state abortion statistics — said more restrictions on Abortions did not reduce abortion rates. Instead, the opposite happened.

“Across the United States the number of abortions is increasing. It’s surprising in some respects because there are 14 states that have banned abortion completely,” Norris told UPI. “We have clear evidence that people who are denied an abortion have negative health outcomes that last for years later.”

Between 200 and 400 abortions are performed in Iowa per month, according to WeCount. In areas where access is severely restricted or restricted, Norris said those numbers drop to almost zero as residents travel out of the country for care.

Before the restrictions go into effect, there is an increase in donations to organizations that help women seeking abortion services. Philanthropic support grants to programs that support women traveling for care, housing and providing equipment to clinics that provide services.

Clinic hours are often increased in the weeks leading up to the ban in an effort to see as many patients as possible.

Iowa has two clinics that have performed abortions regularly: Planned Parenthood in Des Moines and the Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City. The University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City also provides abortion care, usually if there is a problem with the baby.

Boevers said hospitals and clinics have been preparing for the six-week ban for a long time, knowing it might start.

Those preparations are not enough to prepare for emergencies, Boevers said.

“What you can’t be responsible for forever are emergencies. That’s what’s scary about this law and really any government interference in the work of medicine and the delivery of medical care,” Boevers said. “As a doctor, I’m in a 10-minute window thinking about what to do next. You don’t know if that 10 minutes is going to be the last 10 minutes or 10 minutes they start to cut down.”

“There is no way for the legislature or the board of medicine for that matter to set adequate guidelines for the emergencies that will arise in small hospitals like mine eventually,” he added.

Banning or banning abortion plays a role in medical professionals also leaving the country. Norris explains that this happens because many are uncomfortable or feel they are compromising their behavior by not providing the standard of care they have been trained and promised to provide to their patients.

Iowa Democrats are hoping to add the right to abortion to the state constitution. This will not be done through a voter-initiated petition as was the case in Ohio last year, or in Florida where it will be on the ballot in November.

Instead, lawmakers in the House or Senate must propose and approve the amendment in two consecutive general sessions. The amendment must then be approved by the voters.

Legislative actions by Reynolds’ fellow Republicans in the Hawkeye State told a different story about the commitment to support family planning.

Since Republicans took the trifecta in the House, Senate and the governor’s office in 2017, they have introduced legislation to affirm the idea that life begins at conception, seek to decriminalize abortion and limit Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women and infants.

House File 2575, introduced by Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Sioux County, called the “Fetal Homicide” bill, a law that would make abortion a crime. The bill passed the House after much debate about how it could threaten access to in vitro fertilization. This came after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are considered children.

Wheeler denied that his bill would ban IVF while noting that Alabama Governor Kay Ivey later signed a bill to protect the practice.

Wheeler’s bill was later sidelined in the Senate when some Republicans joined Democrats in raising concerns about the impact of IVF.

Iowa had the third-highest increase in infant mortality in the United States in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Infant mortality rose 3% in the United States, the largest increase in 20 years. In Iowa, it rose 30%.

The effects of limited access to prenatal health care are seen disproportionately in Iowa and across the United States. In Iowa, Black women are six times more likely to die from complications during pregnancy or childbirth than White women, according to the Iowa Maternal Health Review Committee.

The increasing restrictions on abortion are creating a level of uncertainty among medical professionals, Petersen said.

“There is a lack of clear guidance from the board of medicine on how they can intervene to provide care to patients without jeopardizing their license,” he said. “How sick and in danger does the mother’s life have to be before they can intervene?”

The United States Supreme Court considered this question in the case of Moyle vs. United States earlier this year. It decided to, at least temporarily, allow emergency abortions in Idaho.