US: Iowa won’t pay for rape victims’ abortions, emergency contraceptives

Iowa's Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird has stopped state coverage for emergency contraception and, in some instances, abortions to sexual assault victims. The move has received criticism from certain victim advocates.Abortion rights in the United States have been a highly contentious and divisive issue for decades.

State law is currently obligated to cover expenditures for sexual assault victims who seek medical attention. This includes expenses such as the cost of forensic examinations and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in Iowa, reports AP.

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The so-called morning-after pill, Plan B, and other contraceptive methods were covered by Iowa's victim compensation fund when Tom Miller, a Democrat, served as attorney general.

According to a spokesperson for Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird, who won the election in November by defeating Miller's quest for an additional term, those payments have been put on hold while a review of victim services is being conducted.

“As a part of her top-down, bottom-up audit of victim assistance, Attorney General Bird is carefully evaluating whether this is an appropriate use of public funds,” Bird Press Secretary Alyssa Brouillet said in a statement.

“Until that review is complete, payment of these pending claims will be delayed.”

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Ruth Richardson, CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, condemned the move and termed it “deplorable and reprehensible.”

Bird's decision comes after a Texas judge on Friday halted the approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. As per court documents, the 67-page ruling by US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas allows the Joe Biden administration one week to appeal the decision.

The judgement was made almost simultaneously with an opposite order by US District Judge Thomas O. Rice in Washington, D.C.

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This comes about a year after the US Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade and restricted access to abortion nationwide.

There have been numerous legal challenges to abortion rights, and the issue continues to be a hotly debated topic in American politics.According to President Joseph Biden, his government will challenge the Texas verdict.

Sandi Tibbetts Murphy, who served as director of the victim assistance division under Miller, said, “My concern is for the victims of sexual assault, who, with no real notice, are now finding themselves either unable to access needed treatment and services, or are now being forced to pay out of their own pocket for those services, when this was done at no fault of their own,” she said.

Currently, the legal status of abortion varies from state to state. Individual US states have the power to regulate and restrict access to abortion services. Some states have passed laws that require restrictions on the use of public funds for abortion, while others have passed laws that effectively ban abortion altogether.

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