Defining the word woman may not be as easy as previously thought. House Study Bill 588 defines the word “woman” as an adult female human. But Democrat State Rep. Sharon Steckman as well as a few liberal members of the lobby took exception to the effort.
Steckman was perplexed at the end of the subcommittee and struggled to provide a definition of the word woman herself. Instead, she was seeking a definition for the word adult, which Republican State Rep. Brooke Boden said is defined in Iowa law as someone over 18 years old.
Ultimately, Steckman was stumped as to the purpose of the bill which she said would “complicate code.”
“I thought this was a joke when I read it,” Steckman said. “I just don’t see any reason to define woman.”
Keenan Crow with One Iowa said biological sex is not binary but instead a spectrum.
“Human beings are all over the spectrum,” Crow said.
According to Crow, there are five factors that determine someone’s sex. And it is difficult to say at what point on the spectrum someone truly becomes female.
Damian Thompson with Iowa Safe Schools said the organization is “curious” as to why the bill was introduced and what it has to do with education. He said he is worried the bill creates some contradictions within code, such as defining a woman as an adult human female but defining a pregnant woman already in code as a female of any age who is pregnant. He also questioned why the bill defines the word woman but not the word man.
Amber Williams, a citizen, spoke in support of the proposal. She criticized the opposition’s circular definition of woman to include the very word woman itself. A woman, she said, is an adult human body organized around two related productions — producing eggs and the gestation of another human being. A man, she said, is an adult human body organized for the storage and delivery of sperm.
Danny Carroll of The FAMiLY Leader spoke in support of the bill, saying it is “kind of surreal” to think there is a serious discussion about it.
“But I guess that’s the world in which we live today,” he said. “Perhaps the best thing we can do for the purposes of this subcommittee, for this legislation and perhaps even for this culture is to go back to Genesis 1:27. ‘So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them. Male and female He created them.’ I would suggest we conduct ourselves accordingly.”
Macy Stilwell with Planned Parenthood spoke out against the legislation.
“I was hoping to come to this subcommittee and hear a reason for this bill,” she said. “To hear why this is necessary and what prompted this to be a good use of our collective time. I have not heard that yet.”
During her closing comments, Steckman asked if anyone was present to answer questions about the one-sentence bill.
“I see no reason to even have this bill,” Steckman said. “So, a trans woman that defines herself as female would be considered a woman? Right. I mean, that’s the way I would read it. If someone considers themselves a female, then according to this, they’re a woman. Because all it says is a female human. So that’s in whose opinion? The person you are talking to? So they would be a woman. In Education Committee — why is it in the Education — I have so many questions about this one-sentence bill that I won’t waste any more time. I’ll just end it there.”
Boden said she thinks it is a great bill and supported moving it forward.
Republican State Rep. Heather Hora also agreed to move the bill to full committee.
