This week, the Public Safety Committee voted for a constitutional amendment to ensure Iowans’ right to keep and bear arms is constitutionally protected. The amendment was passed in 2019 and needs be passed during this general assembly in order to be on the ballot for a public vote in 2022.
The Amendment reads, “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The sovereign state of Iowa affirms and recognizes this right to be a fundamental individual right. Any and all restrictions of this right shall be subject to strict scrutiny.”
- Iowa is one of only 6 states that currently has no language in it’s Constitution that protects the fundamental right to keep and bear arms.
- It is implied in other Amendments, but we want Iowans to have the opportunity to add that right explicitly to our Constitution.
- This would protect against any future Legislature or overzealous judiciary that is hostile to the second amendment.
This week, the Judiciary Committee advanced new language for a constitutional amendment to re-establish that no right to an abortion exists in the Iowa Constitution.
The Amendment reads, “To defend and protect unborn children, we the
people of the State of Iowa declare that this Constitution does not recognize, grant, or secure a right to abortion or require the public funding of abortion.”
This amendment would have to pass during this General Assembly and again in either 2023 or 2024 before it could appear on the ballot in 2024.
- In 2017 the Iowa Supreme Court went far beyond its purview and declared abortion a constitutional right in Iowa.
- The Court’s ruling threatens any reasonable restrictions on abortion, such as restrictions on late-term abortions and taxpayer-funded abortions. Many who are pro-choice even support these restrictions.
