Texas Senator Ted Cruz, speaking to over 1100 Iowa evangelical Christians tonight, got an extended ovation when he announced a federal appeals court had blocked the mailing of abortion pills.
“The 5th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals just issued an order banning the FDA from allowing the mailing of abortion pills nationwide,” said Cruz, the keynote speaker at an the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition event.
The ruling requires one of the two pills used in medication abortions to be administered in person in a health care setting. That’s nearly identical to the regulations outlined in a bill that passed the Iowa House passed earlier tonight on a 58-29 vote.
Representative Jon Dunwell, a Republican from Newton, said the bill will ensure Iowa’s six-week abortion ban is enforced. “Every day that out of state mail order operations dispense abortion drugs to Iowans with no exam, no doctor and no oversight, the ‘heartbeat law’ this chamber passed is being eroded,” Dunwell said.
Representative Megan Srinivas, a Democrat from Des Moines, said the bill will prohibit tele-health appointments which give rural women access abortion pills. “This bill doesn’t do anything to address the problem of black market abortions because those are already illegal,” Srinivas said. “All this bill does is take away options from people in rural Iowa who have no other ability to get care.”
Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, a Democrat from Ames, said the bill layers on regulations that are not necessary. “We may disagree about why a woman would have an abortion, but we should agree on this: politicians in this chamber should not be making deeply personal decisions for Iowans,” she said.
Representative Devon Wood, a Republican from New Market, said the bill is about making sure there is “informed consent” before a woman is given abortion pills. “These conversations are standard practice for any procedure, medication or treatment plan,” Wood said. “It is not difficult. It is not onerous. It is what every patient deserves.”
At last tonight’s Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition event, Iowa Republican Party chairman Jeff Kaufmann was on stage for about half an hour, asking all five GOP candidates for governor a series of questions and he led off by inviting each of them to explain their pro-life views. Adam Steen, a former state agency director, repeated his call for outlawing mail order abortion pills. “Those abortion pills that being sent in to the state of Iowa right now, we have to stop those, first and foremost, get those out of there,” Steen said, to applause. “And ensure life is protected at conception 100%”
Williamsburg pastor Brad Sherman said state law should protect life at all stages. “We need to make sure our elders are being protected. We need to have elder care, that our nursing homes are taking care of them properly and…there’s life in between — the quality of life,” Sherman said. “…That addresses all the cancer rates that we’re dealing with, the mental health issues that we’re dealing with.”
Businessman Zach Lahn told Kaufmann, and the crowd, that the protection of life doesn’t end at birth. “I’m very proud to be the first candidate ever to be endorsed by the MAHA organization that’s fighting for Bobby Kennedy’s MAHA principles in Washington D.C….We have to make sure that we’re fighting for healthy food, for clean water for cancer and, by the way, pulling the COVID shots off the market is a life issue. We must end what’s happening with that,” he said, to cheers and applause.”
State Representative Eddie Andrews supports a life at conception law. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — that phrase we always use,” Andrews said tonight. “…There’s a reason it starts with life.”
Congressman Randy Feenstra mentioned his vote for a bill that defunded Planned Parenthood. “Trump and I made it happen. We absolutely made that happen,” Feenstra said, to applause. “Every life matters, both born and unborn and we’ve got to take care of women when it comes to these situations and work with them and walk beside the and tell them what it means and how important their child is.”
Cruz, the evening’s closer, called the end of Roe v Wade one of the historic victories of the Trump era. Trump, during his first term, appointed three of the five U.S. Supreme Court justices who overturned the 1973 ruling that had legalized abortion.