It appears Republicans in the Iowa House are backing down from their demand to “defund” Planned Parenthood, after securing an increase in the state tax credit for adoptions from $2,500 to $5,000.
“The Planned Parenthood thing has been dropped…We just couldn’t agree,” Representative Linda Miller of Bettendorf, a member of a 10-member panel negotiating on the issue, told reporters today.
She and the other House Republicans wanted to forbid any state tax dollars from going to Planned Parenthood, which provides contraceptives and health exams to 30-thousand Iowa Medicaid patients. Senate Democrats opposed the move and refused to budge. This stalemate was among the final stumbling blocks to concluding the work of the 2016 Iowa legislature.
A few legislators were meeting behind-the-scenes earlier today to seek compromises on this and a few other items. Early this afternoon, the rest of the Iowa House and Senate will return to the capitol. Leaders say the legislature’s work could be done for the year by tonight or sometime Saturday.