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State Rep. Brian Lohse has come out in defense of his colleague, Republican Rep. Jane Bloomingdale, who has a pro-abortion voting record. Bloomingdale voted against the Heartbeat Bill, voted against the Protect Life Amendment and did not vote in support of a 20-week abortion ban.
Despite that record, Lohse has defended Bloomingdale. When he was asked about supporting Bloomingdale despite her pro-abortion record, he responded:
“Please learn who Jane is and what she believes before giving her the label that The Iowa Standard prevaricates about,” Lohse said.
When asked about her votes against pro-life legislation, Lohse said he’d be happy to connect the concerned Iowan with Bloomingdale.
“Some of (her positions and her votes) was based on the bill language we were forced to vote on, which even gave me significant pause,” Lohse said. “Just because the intent of a bill may be good, doesn’t mean it should pass if the language has been badly written.”
The language in question is the proposed constitutional amendment which simply says there is no constitutional right to an abortion or public funding of abortion in the Iowa Constitution.
More specifically, here is the language:
Amend Article I. by adding new Sec. 26. Life. To defend the dignity of all human life and protect unborn children from efforts to expand abortion even to the point of birth, 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.
Lohse voted against HF 2298, a bill that prohibited vaccine mandates in schools. He didn’t vote on a bill authorizing certain exemptions from the COVID vaccine mandates and unemployment benefits. Lohse also voted against a plan to create charter schools in Iowa, expanding school choice. He received money prior to session from the Iowa teachers’ union. He also voted against a bill authorizing stun guns on college campuses.
Throw on top of that the fact he had “significant pause” about the abortion neutrality amendment and it should cause concern for Iowa conservatives.
