State Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott: “We have entered an era not of unsafe abortion but of widespread state surveillance and criminalization of pregnancy. This is not hyperbole.”
State Sen. Liz Mathis, candidate for U.S. House District 2: “This decision is extreme and devastating. It allows the government to intervene in our most personal health care decisions. Ashley Hinson has cheered it on from the beginning in her efforts to criminalize abortion. It’s time for Congress to act.”
Rep. Ross Wilburn, Iowa Democrat chairman: “It is a dark day for freedom in our nation as we reckon with the consequences of a 50-years-long vendetta against the freedoms protected by Roe v. Wade.”
Rep. Lindsay James: “We knew this was coming. But it doesn’t make it any easier to stomach. Women deserve the right to make choices about their life and their future — including starting a family.”
Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, Iowa House Democrat Leader: “You can expect it and still feel it like a punch to the gut. That’s what it’s like when you learn your body isn’t completely your own. That’s what it’s like when you lose your freedom. Unless you are a person who can get pregnant, you cannot truly understand the fear & anger.”
Rep. Liz Bennett: “SCOTUS has ruled on Roe v. Wade overturning 49 years of precedent. In the United States of America a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy over their trash can but not their uterus. Get ready to fight.”
Heather Matson, former Iowa House Representative and current candidate: “I knew this could happen. We all did. But the reality of it actually happening is just too much. Decades of progress on women’s rights. On bodily autonomy. On a say in our future. Undone in a SCOTUS decision because elections have consequences & we must pick up the pieces. The heaviness and hurt in my heart knowing what is ahead is crushing. But yet, we must and will persist. I refuse to let this be the end.”
Ryan Melton, candidate for U.S. House District 4: “There’s much to say and do, but for now, I’ll just say to women that I recognize you live in a much scarier country now, that the gravity of this day is probably suffocating right now. We love you, but know words aren’t enough. I will keep fighting the food fight.”
Representative Molly Donahue: “Religious leaders and beliefs have no business interfering in politics. There is a reason for separation of church and state – and we must protect that.”
Representative Mary Wolfe: “Despite indisputable fact that majority of Iowans do NOT support an abortion ban, for years a majority of Iowa’s elected Rs have declared their fervid desire/intent to ban all abortions if only our state/federal supreme courts would get out of their way. Arguably now there’s nothing stopping the Gov from calling a special session and jamming through a total abortion ban in Iowa effective immediately BUT that would mean the Rs would likely lose lots of swingy House seats in upcoming election. So I bet they wait. We will see. The ‘argument’ being that we don’t know if our Iowa Supreme Court will ultimately hold that the Iowa Constitution provides no protection for a woman’s right to choose an abortion or a little protection for a woman’s right to choose an abortion. And if it’s a little, how little.”
