Abortion

Iowa Sneaks In An Abortion Ban For Poor Rape Victims

The legislators have tucked a ban on using Medicaid funding on abortions for rape and incest victims in the state.

If you are on Medicaid in Iowa and are raped, Republicans think you should just have the baby.  In fact, it’s so important to them that they are sneaking it into a massive omnibus bill since it failed the first time they tried to pass it.

Via the Des Moines Register:

The proposal launched in March by House Republicans would remove rape and incest from the list.  The Senate, which is narrowly controlled by Democrats, stripped the provision from a budget bill.

But today the proposal has returned.  House Republicans today at 3 p.m. are expected to announce their plans to launch a massive omnibus bill as a way to break the budget gridlock that has trapped the legislature for a month.

That bill – which could approach 1,000 pages –  is expected to contain most of the state’s budgetary proposals as well as some legislation that previously failed in this legislative session.

Civil rights groups have been highly critical of the proposal to prohibit Medicaid money from being used to abort fetuses conceived by rape or incest.

“What are we saying here?” asked Randall Wilson, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa said in March. “We’re saying that if a rich woman is raped, she can get an abortion because she can afford one, but a poor woman will have to bear the child. There’s no social justice in that.”

Yes, it seems pretty clear — if you can’t afford an abortion, you really should take it upon yourself not to get raped, or be ready to bear the consequences.