The proposed platforms that Iowa Democrats and Republicans will be asked to approve at their state conventions this Saturday illustrate the stark contrast between the parties on major issues.
Delegates at the Iowa Republican Party’s state convention this Saturday will be asked to ratify a party platform that calls for banning all abortions in Iowa, “without exceptions.” Republican lawmakers enacted the toughest abortion law in the country this year, but that ban on abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected — about the sixth week of pregnancy — includes exceptions for rape and incest.
Iowa Democrats have a proposed platform which declares the party’s opposition to that law as well as its support of Roe v Wade, the court decision that legalized abortion. The Democratic Party’s platform also calls for restoring government funding to Planned Parenthood.
When it comes to the gun issue, the Iowa Democratic Party’s platform calls for an “updated” assault weapons ban that would include limits on how many bullets may be in the magazine inserted in the gun. The Republican platform outlines GOP opposition to new gun restrictions and calls for letting “authorized personnel” who’ve undergone training carry guns in Iowa schools.
As it did in 2016, the Iowa GOP’s platform calls for an end to public sector unions. The Democratic Party’s document calls for restoring the bargaining rights of government workers that Republican lawmakers erased in 2017.
Iowa Democrats added a line to their proposed platform spelling out their opposition to “presidential self-pardons.” The Iowa GOP’s platform says all agreements with foreign countries “should be done by treaty and subject to approval by congress” — a relevant section given President Trump’s meeting tomorrow with North Korea’s leader.
State convention delegates in both parties are likely to debate some items in each proposed document.
Iowa Libertarians held their state convention last Saturday. Libertarians nominated Lynne Gentry Rockwell City as their lieutenant governor running mate. In 2014, she ran for a seat in the Iowa legislature and got 21 percent of the vote in the district that covers Pocahontas, Humboldt and Calhoun Counties.