Hey Folks,

It’s Women’s Equality Day! While our fight for equality and to restore our rights is constant, today is a special day designed to celebrate the advancement of women everywhere, and to honor the passing of the 19th Amendment. The 19th Amendment made it unconstitutional for the federal or state government to prevent people from voting on the basis of sex, guaranteeing women the right to vote.

Unfortunately, we've taken a big step backward this year. All across our country, women’s rights are being rolled back. With the Supreme Court’s unjust decision to abolish Roe V. Wade, the floodgates have opened for states to begin taking away women’s reproductive freedoms.

Iowa has even fallen to this devastating trend. On July 29th of this year Republicans hammered a six week abortion ban in place, a law so extreme that most women won’t even know they’re pregnant when it begins to affect them.

This law is devastating to women, and the progress of women’s rights. It allows the government to control the body of a human being, deciding what care they can get, when they can get it, and who they can get it from. It is opposed to the fundamental values of our nation, and the freedoms we cherish.

And it can get even worse. Many states protect the freedom to control one’s own body; in the worst case scenarios, Iowa citizens can flee across the border to access the care they need. But there is talk among Republicans to criminalize seeking treatment in other states when it is illegal in one’s own state.

Which is why we, as Iowa Democrats, can’t give up. We can’t let the backslide continue. For women’s sake, we have to win this battle.

Together, we have the power to transform our state and our country. 

Thank you,
Rita Hart
Chair, Iowa Democratic Party