Representative Jon Jacobsen (R-Council Bluffs) opened his brief talk with a joke about the 2020 Democrat presidential field.
“I fled tonight to get over here because all 20 Democratic candidates are on the Missouri River right now,” he said. “I interviewed a lot of them on the radio show. They all had their toothbrushes up in the air. I said ‘what are you doing?’ They said ‘well, we’re waiting for the crest.’ This is not the brightest group of people that we have running on the Democratic side on this election here.”
Jacobsen encouraged the attendees to contact their legislators regarding Alfie’s Law, which Jacobsen introduced to prohibit a hospital from discontinuing life-sustaining treatment from a minor against the wishes of a parent.
“A year ago in Britain, Alfie Evans, a toddler, was put to death by the British Health Service even though he was also a dual citizen of Italy, even though all his parents wanted him to be able to do was to check out of the hospital and get care elsewhere,” Jacobsen said. “The child was not actively dying, they just discontinued breathing treatments and food and water. Folks, this can happen in Iowa. There’s no protections. Let’s not be like New York and Vermont with infanticide. Let’s not be worse with pediacide.”
Alfie’s Law passed through the Iowa House. It is yet to make it through the Iowa Senate.