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'Deplorable': Iowa's GOP Governor Opts Out of Summer Food Program for Kids
"Announcing three days before Christmas that we've deliberately chosen not to feed hungry kids? The Dickensian parallels write themselves," said the board chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition.
Dec 25, 2023
Iowa's Republican-led government sparked outrage late last week by declining to participate in a federal program that would have provided low-income residents with $40 a month in additional food assistance during the coming summer.
Created by the U.S. Congress late last year, the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) for Children program aims to boost nutrition benefits for families with school-aged children who typically receive free or reduced-price meals during the school year. Starting in summer 2024, eligible families will receive a prepaid debit card with $40 per child for three months.
But in a press release issued Friday, the state's health and human services department said it had notified the Biden administration that Iowa would be opting out of Summer EBT, claiming the program doesn't sufficiently restrict the kinds of food that families can purchase.
Kim Reynolds, Iowa's Republican governor, echoed that assertion in a statement focused more on childhood obesity than food insecurity, which impacts one in 11 kids in her state.
"Federal Covid-era cash benefit programs are not sustainable and don't provide long-term solutions for the issues impacting children and families," said Reynolds. "An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic."
"Starvation is not a legitimate strategy to reduce childhood obesity."
The Iowa Hunger Coalition (IHC) noted that because of the government's decision, 240,000 children in the state will lose out on $120 in food assistance this coming summer.
"This is an unconscionable decision," Luke Elzinga, the IHC's board chair, said in a statement. "Announcing three days before Christmas that we've deliberately chosen not to feed hungry kids? The Dickensian parallels write themselves."
Elzinga criticized the state government's suggestion that "low-income Iowans can't be trusted to make their own choices about what to feed their kids" as "incredibly insulting."
"We've somehow decided that parents know best when it comes to school curriculum but not what to feed their kids? Starvation is not a legitimate strategy to reduce childhood obesity," Elzinga said, adding that "an abundance of academic research has made clear the link between food insecurity and obesity in the United States."
Hunger is growing across the U.S. as safety net expansions enacted during the coronavirus pandemic continue to unwind. Some states have moved to make crisis-era programs such as universal free school meals permanent while others, such as Iowa and Arkansas, have worked aggressively to curb benefits for poor residents.
IHC said Saturday that Iowa's food banks are currently seeing record-breaking demand and warned that the government's pledge to bolster existing state-level programs while refusing to take part in Summer EBT will exacerbate the crisis.
"Hunger is a policy choice, and this is just one more unfortunate example of that fact," said Elzinga. "Summer EBT should be a bipartisan no-brainer policy win for Iowa's kids. The Iowa Hunger Coalition will be making this an issue with the Iowa legislature in 2024. We can not and will not accept this disastrous decision by Governor Reynolds. It's deplorable that Iowa's leadership has chosen to make feeding children a political issue."
Democratic State Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott toldThe Gazette on Friday that the government's rejection of Summer EBT is a "huge loss for Iowa."
"If we're talking 20-some million (dollars) coming from the federal government, I don't think the state is going to be matching that," said Trone Garriott, who works with the Des Moines Area Religious Council Food Pantry Network. "They are just going to be leaving it to the charities to make up the difference."
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Iowa Abortion Providers Sue Over 'Appalling' New Six-Week Ban
"We are seeking to block the ban because we know that every day this law is in effect, Iowans will face life-threatening barriers to getting desperately needed medical care," said the ACLU of Iowa's legal director.
Jul 12, 2023
Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds hasn't yet signed a new ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy but healthcare providers are already fighting back, filing a challenge to the looming law in state court on Wednesday.
"Today, we continue the fight to protect Iowans' fundamental right to reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy as we seek a temporary injunction to block the egregious abortion ban Iowa lawmakers rammed through during an unprecedented one-day special session," said Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, in a statement.
The case was brought by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the ACLU of Iowa on behalf of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Dr. Sarah Traxler, and the Emma Goldman Clinic—whose executive director, Francine Thompson, said that "we are appalled and disappointed that the Iowa Legislature and the governor are playing doctor by inserting themselves into exam rooms where they don't belong."
After the divided Iowa Supreme Court last month upheld an injunction against a similar 2018 law, Reynolds called Tuesday's special session specifically so that Republican lawmakers could pass a new abortion ban and she now plans to sign the bill, H.F. 732, on Friday.
"This law is deeply cruel and callously puts the lives and health of Iowans at risk."
"This law is deeply cruel and callously puts the lives and health of Iowans at risk," said Rita Bettis Austen, legal director for the ACLU of Iowa. "It's appalling that our Legislature has passed, and the governor is going to sign, a nearly identical abortion ban to the one permanently blocked by the courts."
"We are seeking to block the ban because we know that every day this law is in effect, Iowans will face life-threatening barriers to getting desperately needed medical care—just as we have seen in other states with similar bans," Austen added. "Iowa politicians who voted for this have put their own political expediency over the will of the people, as well as Iowans' rights to bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom, their health, and their safety."
H.F. 732 would ban abortion before many people even know they are pregnant—and while the bill contains exceptions for rape, incest, and to protect the life of the pregnant person, as Common Dreams has reported, in practice, healthcare providers' fears about potential consequences have led some patients who could qualify for a legal abortion to be denied such care.
While Reynolds claimed in a Tuesday statement about the bill's passage that "the voices of Iowans and their democratically elected representatives cannot be ignored any longer," polling results released Wednesday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research show the majority of Americans across the political spectrum support abortions up to 15 weeks.
The poll was conducted June 22-26, a period that included the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's right-wing supermajority reversing Roe v. Wade. Since the justices' Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, GOP anti-choice legislators have ramped up their efforts to end abortion access, leading "healthcare refugees" who can afford it to seek care in Democrat-controlled states with strong reproductive rights protections, such as Illinois, which borders Iowa.
The fight over Iowa's new ban comes as the state prepares for a Friday forum featuring some candidates for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, hosted by Tucker Carlson, who was recently ousted by Fox News. The frontrunner—twice-impeached and twice-indicted former President Donald Trump—is not planning to participate.
However, for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and ex-Vice President Mike Pence, Iowa's new abortion ban "just became a GOP litmus test," TIME's Philip Elliott wrote Wednesday. "It will be all but impossible for the candidates to avoid this issue as they take their turn on stage Friday."
Meanwhile, given polls showing most Americans support at least some abortion rights,The New Republic's Tori Otten suggested that the Iowa GOP's "extreme move" this week "could tip the state" for President Joe Biden, who is facing a few longshot Democratic primary challengers but widely expected to face the Republican nominee next year.
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Reproductive Rights Advocates Blast Iowa GOP's Special Session to Ban Abortion
"Iowa's situation is devastating, and unfortunately, it's not novel—it is yet another glance at the ugly reality of how far anti-abortion lawmakers are willing to go to attack our fundamental freedoms," lamented NARAL.
Jul 10, 2023
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa on Monday led calls for reproductive rights defenders to "show up, speak out, and fight like hell to keep abortion safe and legal" in the Hawkeye State as its Republican-controlled Legislature prepares to convene a special session Tuesday seeking to ban almost all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
Last week, GOP Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds called state lawmakers back to Des Moines for the sole purpose of passing a new abortion ban. Current state law allows abortion up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Less than a week before the U.S. Supreme Court revoked half a century of federal abortion rights in June 2022, Iowa's highest court ruled that there is no constitutionally protected right to the medical procedure, paving the way for the state Legislature to pass even stricter anti-choice laws.
"We need everyone to fight back against this attack on reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy."
Reynolds said in a statement that "Iowans have elected representatives willing to stand up for the rights of the unborn and, in doing so, they have voted strongly in support of pro-life principles and against the arbitrary destruction of innocent, defenseless lives."
However, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa noted that more than 6 in 10 Iowa voters "want to keep abortion safe and legal."
"We need everyone to fight back against this attack on reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy," the group said.
The ACLU of Iowa warned that the proposed legislation "would ban 98% of abortions" in the state.
"Let's call it what it is: A near-total ban on abortion. Full stop," the group said.
NARAL Pro-Choice America tweeted: "Right now, abortion is legal in Iowa. But the state already has gaps in reproductive healthcare access and providers. This ban will dramatically intensify them, especially for historically marginalized groups that already face immense barriers to care."
"Iowa's situation is devastating, and unfortunately, it's not novel—it is yet another glance at the ugly reality of how far anti-abortion lawmakers are willing to go to attack our fundamental freedoms," the group added.
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