Maggie DeWitte of Iowans For Life, and spokesperson for the Iowa pro-life coalition, spoke in favor of SJR 9. The coalition, she said, is united to give voice to those without one.
“This amendment’s language clarifies what is already obvious to anyone who reads our state constitution,” DeWitte said. “There is absolutely no right to abortion or funding of abortion in this document. The unelected judges of the Iowa Supreme Court did with one pen stroke the job of the elected officials of the state of Iowa — they created law.”
DeWitte said what they did was wrong and the amendment is the first step in fixing the mistake. She said the lawmaking process is the job of the legislature, not the courts.
“That’s what the people of Iowa elect you to do,” she said. “This is a bipartisan issue whether you are Republican or Democrat — we all should agree that the judicial branch of our government is not tasked with creating laws.”
DeWitte wants the people of Iowa to be able to decide on the amendment.
She noted pro-life legislators could take heart in the fact Iowans re-elected Republican majorities in the House and the Senate, along with Gov. Kim Reynolds.
“The people in the state of Iowa are pro-life and they want their laws to reflect that,” DeWitte said. “Whether Iowa is going to be a pro-life state or the next New York is a decision for the people of Iowa, not five unelected judges.
“Human life in the womb has never been so attacked as it’s been in recent weeks. It’s gone beyond abortion into infanticide.”
“That’s all the more reason this amendment is so important — we cannot let the state of Iowa take the path of New York and Virginia.”
