Des Moines, Iowa — House Democrats are planning to push to make contraceptives, like the pill, available without a prescription.
Representative Lindsay James, a Democrat from Dubuque, says pharmacists in 20 states can provide birth control without a doctor’s prescription.
In 2019, Republican Governor Kim Reynolds proposed making the pill available without a prescription, but the bill stalled in the House. This year, GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate are considering proposals that would still require prescriptions, but the required appointments with the prescribing doctor would be less frequent. House Democrats are also proposing an amendment to guarantee abortion rights in the Iowa Constitution along with other legislation related to reproductive health care. House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights.
During the House debate of a wide-ranging bill Republicans are considering, Democratic Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell of Ames intends to ask that Medicaid patients get one year of health coverage after childbirth rather than just 60 days.
She’ll also call for restoring Medicaid coverage for family planning and sexually transmitted disease testing at Planned Parenthood. Republican lawmakers ended state and federal funding for those services at Planned Parenthood in 2017. Key Republicans say they stand by the decision to “defund” Planned Parenthood and have no intention of reversing it.
