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Iowans had their opportunity Tuesday night to chime in on House Joint Resolution 2004, a proposed constitutional amendment that states there is no right to an abortion or taxpayer funding of abortion in the Iowa Constitution.

The amendment will not outlaw any abortions, it simply corrects the error Republicans believe the Iowa Supreme Court made when it discovered a fundamental right to an abortion in the Iowa Constitution.

Mary Browning, an attorney, said she was 18 when she had an abortion. She said the doctor provided no information about the size of the baby or the baby’s formation. She met the doctor when he came into the room to do the procedure.

“I wanted to believe my baby was a blob of tissue,” she said.

The baby, though, was 16 weeks along. The doctor had not done an exam prior to the procedure.

“I regret my abortion,” she said. “I’m here to urge the people of Iowa to contact your representatives to vote for the protect life amendment.”

The Iowa Supreme Court’s decision, Browning said, does not give voice to the people of Iowa.

Dr. Rebecca Shaw spoke as a representative of the American College of OB/GYNs. She spoke in opposition to the amendment, saying her views on reproductive choice and abortion have been shaped by caring for thousands of women. She called the amendment ill-advised and dangerous.

Lisa Ambrozic provided powerful testimony. She earned a nursing degree in 1979. Her first position was in a women’s clinic.

“At one point I was asked to assist a physician with late-term abortions,” she said. “It was my job, after the abortion, to identify in the sink the crushed skulls, the faces, spinal cords, the arms and legs of baby and document in medical file ‘the abortion was complete.'”

Many women, she said, came to the clinic seeking answers. But no alternatives were provided other than abortion.

“Their agenda was to profit financially from the murder of innocent babies,” she said. “The abortionists lies and tells women that they can ‘have the life they want.’ That walking into a clinic for an abortion is ’empowering.’ These are lies, period. What about the life that could’ve been for this child? What is empowering about murder?”

Clare Harney, an OB/GYN doctor who has a practice in Bettendorf and Davenport, had an interesting line.

“We know that most women who have abortions in the U.S. are already moms,” she said. “We know that making abortion illegal or difficult to get, doesn’t decrease the number of abortions. It doesn’t save any unborn children.”

She went on to say mothers who believe abortion is necessary are desperate, determined and brave.

Renee Aamodt spoke next in favor of the amendment. She said she’s pro-woman and a true feminist. Working in the construction field, she said she has many motivations to stand for women’s rights.

“Not only am I pro-woman and pro-democracy, but I am pro-life,” she said.

Aamodt quoted Mother Teresa, who said abortion is so profoundly anti-woman. She noted that three-fourths of abortions victims are women — half of the babies and all the moms.

“In fact, well over half of babies aborted around the world are girls,” she said. “How is this pro-woman, I ask myself?”

More than half of women who have an abortion say they felt pressured by others to abort, she noted.

Regardless, Aamodt said amending the constitution should be up to the people, not judges.

“What’s at stake today in Iowa is rule by we the people or rule by unelected judges,” she said.

Frieda Bequeaith spoke of her abortion experience, as she said she’s one of the 1-in-4 women who have an abortion. She called a number that belonged to an “anti-choice” organization. She said they made her feel isolated.

If the proposed amendment passes, she said, it will put Iowans in danger.

“I will not let this legislation shame me,” she said. “Because I have worked hard to overcome the shame that I felt when I was 15 years old. And I’m proud of the strength that I found to make the right decision for myself. My abortion was medically necessary. Right now, I am ashamed. I am ashamed to be an Iowan.”

Brittany Hruska talked about her mom choosing life after being encouraged to abort her. Hruska said for the past 17 years she’s specialized in the NICU. She discussed babies who are born too soon to survive.

“I’ve seen babies born younger. These babies are too young for modern medicine to save,” she said. “This does not stop them from fighting to live. It doesn’t stop little mouths from trying to cry, little arms from waving, little legs from kicking and little hearts from beating as long as they can. I have helped hold these babies in their final moments. I have handed them to their mothers for their last breath. Watching someone so small and so innocent leave this world is heart-wrenching. I can’t imagine anyone ever intentionally hurting them. They feel everything more intensely than we do because they are premature. I know these babies well. Every baby deserves not only life, but to be protected against violence acts to end their life. I’ve never questioned their humanity, but I do question ours.”

Amanda Acton, who spoke of her own abortion at 23 weeks, said her daughter did not have lungs and abortion was the only choice she could make to save her daughter from an agonizing death.

It was the hardest thing she’s ever had to go through, she said.

“My decision was never hard because I knew that compassion was the only thing I could give her,” she said. “Having my abortion was the compassionate thing to do. It was the right thing to do for me.”

She called laws that ban abortion after 20 weeks state-sanctioned torture.

Josh DeGroote, pastor from Real Life Church in Ankeny, quoted Proverbs 31:8-9.

“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth and judge righteously; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

He said he was here to urge the legislators to do the right thing.

Abortion, he said, is a great and gross injustice. Legislators are called to promote justice as God’s servants.

“Abortion is a gross injustice and it’s foisted upon the most helpless of all human beings,” he said. “The language of this amendment makes it clear that it is to defend the dignity of all human life. Who could argue with that?”

DeGroote said there is no group of people more destitute than the preborn. They are mute and need us to speak for them. They are weak and need us to be strong for them. They are defenseless, and they need to be defended by us, he said.

“To be clear, abortion is the intentional and gruesome dismemberment and killing of an innocent human being who is made in the image of God,” he said. “That’s what it is. It’s a boy or a girl. It’s a son or a daughter.”

DeGroote said the conscience of every human attests to this.

“You and I know this,” he said. “Therefore to deny it is to simply suppress the truth that’s before us. You, as elected representatives are God’s servants and called to promote justice in the state of Iowa. Just laws, which commend good behavior and punish evil behavior. The book of Romans chapter 13 says that governing authorities act as God’s servants.”

Perhaps, he said, the legislators have never considered that or heard of that before. But that is how God views them.

“You may think you’re accountable merely to your constituents and to your districts and to your donors, but that’s not true,” he said. “The judge of all the Earth, the judge of all human history is the God who made you and He’s watching. You will stand before Him and give an account of what you’ve done here. And make no mistake, He is a God of impecible justice. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne, His eternal throne. So, I urge you to judge righteously, do what’s right, protect the life of the most needy and helpless among us. Pass this amendment and see it all the way through until it’s ratified and added to the constitution.”

Debbie Griffin, a pastor at Downtown Disciples, said she wanted to respond to the previous speaker and say she would like to disagree with “just about everything that he said.”

She said there is much disagreement not only among citizens of Iowa, but among Christians themselves about the Scriptures and judging and judging others and being called to respect our neighbors and their ability to make decisions for themselves.

“The way that I honor my maker,” she said. “Is by respecting their freedom.”

Kim Laubbie, the director of Lutheran Family Services, spoke in support. She said it is necessary because the Iowa Supreme Court decided to create law rather than interpret it. The decision, she said, inappropriately tied the legislature’s hands when it comes to the abortion issue.

Connie Ryan of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Action Fund spoke against the amendment. She said legislators represent people of faith and no faith across Iowa who believe in a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions without government interference.

“You are attacking the fundamental right of Iowa women to make our own healthcare decisions,” Ryan said. “You are ignoring history and you are placing women in danger. If this amendment becomes part of our state’s constitution, you will return us to the day where it will be commonplace for women to die or for their bodies to be harmed.”

She said conservative lawmakers and religious extremists have pushed their political agenda to insert themselves into a woman’s private healthcare decision.

Maggie DeWitte, executive director of Iowans For Life and spokesperson for the coalition of pro-life leaders, said there is no doubt that the little girl in her mother’s womb is a baby and deserves to be protected.

But, the amendment is about more than that. It’s about the legislature and the public having the ability to do its job.

“It does not ban any abortion,” DeWitte said. “It does not change any existing abortion law.”

DeWitte said five unelected judges attempted to bypass the people of Iowa by creating a fundamental right to an abortion.

“They tried to end the abortion debate by arbitrary, judicial decree,” she said. “This time unelected judges rewrote the constitution on abortion, but if we cede them this power, what’s to stop them from rewriting our speech rights, our Second Amendment rights or any other right they decide to add or subtract.”

She asked why anyone is in the building if five unelected judges are going to rule over Iowa and the constitution.

Jim Lamb, a life advocate of Lutheran Family Service, said he isn’t a constitutional scholar, but he wonders why after 163 years a supposed right to kill unborn children was suddenly found in the Iowa Constitution.

“I would ask Planned Parenthood why did they take so long to use this,” he said. “Why, for example, did you not use it with the 20-week ban. Just curious.”

He asked why in 1858, six months after the Iowa Constitution was written, the Iowa Legislature passed an act for the punishment of killing an unborn baby.

“Did they forget that they had just granted such a right in the newly approved constitution,” he said. “Could it be that such a right was never there? Never has been.”

Lamb had a 16-week model of an unborn baby. He asked about his right to defend the lives of unborn children.

He referenced people who say they’re here to defend the rights of women and girls in Iowa.

“Good for them,” he said. “But I think it’s important for us to understand approximately 30 million little girls, including 150,000 in Iowa, have had their lives snuffed out before they were born and will never have the privilege of becoming a woman. Why can’t I have the right to speak for them?”

Lamb finished by asking the legislators not to listen to him, but to instead listen to their hearts.

Erin Davison-Rippey called the amendment the first time in state history a right will be removed from the constitution. She said the intent of the amendment is an attempt by Republicans to take away safe, legal abortion in Iowa.

Paula Denison spoke against the amendment on behalf of Catholics For Choice. She said she wanted to represent the fact that Catholics can support access to abortions. She added that a majority of Catholics in Iowa stand with Catholics For Choice.

Denison said 6-in-10 Catholics believe abortion can be a moral choice.

“Our church has taught us that we are obligated to follow our conscience,” she said. “Based upon our own judgment. It’s refreshing. I am pro-choice because of my Catholic faith, not in spite of it. The two are not in conflict.”

Caitlyn Dixson, executive director of Iowa Right to Life, said she is proud to speak in support of the amendment. She said the amendment is clearly not an abortion ban, it simply provides Iowans a choice.

“There is no ban on abortion in this amendment,” she said. “This amendment puts the power back to the people through their representatives. This amendment is what Iowans need. I urge you to pass this amendment so that Iowans can have a choice.”

Laura Limmex, executive director of Restored by Grace, said at 16 years old, she had an abortion. Her parents had no knowledge of the abortion.

“I was traumatized not only by the procedure, but by the sight of what was left of my child,” she said. “My story is one of many.

“It’s heartbreaking to sit with a woman who is carrying the pain of aborting the only child or children she will ever conceive as a result of the poor quality of care she received during and after her abortion.

“Men and women have spent years trying their hardest to forget their abortions ever happened.”

Trying to forget that, she said, is like trying to keep a beach ball underwater.

“Not only did I lose my first child to abortion, and grandchildren, as this child would be 35 years old today,” Limmex said. “My family tree is forever changed.”

Luana Stoltenberg of Operation Outcry had thousands of declarations from women who regret their abortion. She went through a long list of effects abortion has had on those women.

“I was told it would be easy and safe,” Stoltenberg said.

She said she started drinking heavily, doing drugs and became promiscuous. That lifestyle, she said, led to two more abortions.

When she got married and wanted to start a family, she could not because of the damage of the abortions to her tubes.

“I killed the only children I could ever bear,” she said. “Women deserve a better solution than to kill their children. Abortion is not safe. A child dies and the woman may be wounded physically, emotionally and psychologically for her life. There is no constitutional right to kill children in our state.”

Katharine West, a “reverend,” said she has walked with women through many different situations.

“I have yet to hear God speak and say that this was morally wrong or a sin,” she said. “Instead I have heard God call me to share love through compassion and support. HJR 2004 is an assault on women, their freedom and their God-given rights.”

West then talked about a Jewish tradition that life begins when breath enters one’s lungs. The amendment, West said, treats women as “less than.”

Leah Vanden Bosch spoke on behalf of Planned Parenthood. She said she grew up in a conservative Christian Reformed home in Orange City. She’s a self-proclaimed “person of faith.” She had an abortion and, she said, has been forced to retell her traumatic history of health care over and over.

“I have risked everything to share my story,” she said. “Our Republican legislators, who have proven themselves to be anti-sexual and reproductive healthcare, have inflicted more pain into my life than I would give them the pleasure of describing. I would not be here without my abortion. Complete strangers now know my most private humiliating struggles.”

Those struggles, she said, do not include her abortion. They are instead her suicide attempt, eating disorder, anxiety and depression.

“And a decade-long recovery that no one in this room knows anything about,” she said. “It is dehumanizing for me to continue doing this, but I must as some legislators clearly don’t understand how abortion is a medically necessary procedure, as it was for me. HJR 2004 does not protect Iowans. I am an Iowan, you would’ve killed me. I feared for my life while pregnant and I would have taken it if you would’ve forced that pregnancy on me.”

She called the legislation dangerous, offensive and an invasion of privacy.

“Please understand there is no law that would’ve stopped me from terminating my pregnancy and stop pushing this dangerous, terrifying piece of legislation forward,” Vanden Bosch said.

Jen Leatherby spoke against the amendment, saying abortion saved her life.

“The fact that extremist legislators would propose and let alone vote yes for an amendment that would put my life at risk is truly dehumanizing,” Leatherby said.

She said many people who had abortions feel their life was saved by having access to abortion. She said the fact she had to go to the Capitol to talk about this is a “disgrace.”

“As a person who would be considered mother if this amendment were to pass, I can promise you that losing access to abortion would without a doubt put the safety and dignity of my human life at risk,” Leatherby said. “It is no secret that abortion is always safer than childbirth when considering the life of the pregnant person.”

She said HJR 2004 legalizes forced birth. The amendment, if passed, could cause horrifying bloodshed among Iowans. And, she added, she’s concerned about children losing their mothers.

Drew Zahn of The FAMiLY Leader said we’ve heard all kinds of arguments about abortion, but we’ve all heard them before.

“Yet there is one truth that I can’t argue away,” he said. “Because I have seen my children’s ultrasounds. I have seen my twin boys in the ultrasound tussle with one another and climb all over one another. And I could see their individual personalities in the womb. Personalities they still have today, 16 years later. There’s one truth I can’t argue away, because the science is overwhelmingly clear. There is one truth that I can’t argue away, and our poling at The FAMiLY Leader shows that nearly two-thirds of Iowans agree. That infant life, in her mother’s womb, she’s a babby. And she deserves, at least, some protection.”

But the radical ruling of 2018, Zahn said, would legalize late-term abortions in Iowa up to the day of the baby’s birth.

Lindsay Maher said this is an information and a control issue. Maher noted the heartbeat bill passed in 2018 and was overturned due to one judge’s opinion.

Clarification is needed in the constitution, she said, after the ruling.

“Why do some legislators not trust the people of Iowa enough to vote for themselves,” she asked. “At what point do citizen legislators and judges know more than the rest of the general public and should make all the decisions. Some legislators distrust the public with information because they don’t believe they will make the decision they want.”

Maher said Iowa has the highest high school graduation rate in the nation. If the legislators would inform the people on both sides of this issue, it would yield a public that is ready to make a truly informed decision on what is best for the state constitution.

“We would have a society of educated and informed citizens engaged in the legislature,” Maher said. “Which to those in Washington D.C. may seem extremely dangerous. But thankfully, this is Iowa, where we welcome engagement and well-informed citizens. Please move this bill forward and allow us, the people, to vote specifically on this matter. After all, both the Iowa Constitution and the U.S. Constitution begin with ‘We, the people.'”

Eric Schultz said he is opposed to the amendment and described himself as a miracle baby who shouldn’t be here.

“What is extremely barbaric in society is having a government force a woman to go through that like a slavemaster does forcing work,” he said.

Chuck Hurley of The FAMiLY Leader said he wanted to clear up some misunderstanding that existed in the committee hearing on the bill. At that time, Democrats accused Republicans of fear-mongering over late-term abortion and taxpayer funding of abortion.

“Yet is it really fear-mongering when two top legal experts, two Iowa Supreme Court judges, warned that the case Planned Parenthood vs. Reynolds is a ‘stepping stone’ to making Iowans pay for abortions,” Hurley said.

Opponents said the Hyde Amendment would protect Iowa from taxpayer funding of abortions. The Hyde Amendment, though, only relates to federal dollars.

“It does not do anything to protect Iowans from being forced to pay through Iowa taxes,” Hurley said. “That was simply a false statement. So, who really is fooling whom here regarding Iowa taxpayers to pay for late-term abortions?”

Hurley also noted that the Democrat Party’s leading presidential candidates not only openly support abortion up to the day of birth, but publicly support repealing the Hyde Amendment. The Democrat Party’s national platform also calls for taxpayer funding of abortion.

“Look, the Democratic Party knows these are unpopular positions,” he said. “Even most Democrats don’t support abortion up to the day of a baby’s birth and don’t want to force taxpayers to pay for them. We’ve been offered some false reassurances by certain Iowa legislators even while this radical abortion agenda marches on across the U.S. and has now come to Iowa. So, come on, who’s fooling whom?”

Author: Jacob Hall

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