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Women must have access to legal and safe abortions, both for unplanned and complicated pregnancies. The six-week abortion law is devastating to Iowa's girls and women in that it provides no time to adequately realize one is pregnant, and the so-called exceptions are also within an impossible timeframe, really no exceptions at all but a total ban. Miscarriages and all sorts of complications occur slightly later in the pregnancy, creating a legal and ethical "gray area" for pregnant women. If one has the money, a legal abortion can be obtained in nearby states, but otherwise the alternatives are horrific and possibly fatal. Iowa already ranks 50th in OB's per [female] capita, and this abortion ban has created more impossible situations.
A whole range of supportive government policies such as increased support for higher education, subsidized quality child care, more affordable housing, and expanded nutrition programs would be a start for my constituents, especially in a rural area where quality jobs and strong unions are discouraged. The Department of Labor could have expanded training programs in healthcare and construction, for example, along with true emergency support services. Our government has had a strong history of supportive programs from the Homestead Act to the New Deal to the G.I. Bill to Head Start.
A strong emphasis on education concerning guns and the consequences of firearms would be a start as many violent deaths are accidental or intentional within the family, including suicide and domestic violence. Gun ownership should be considered like automobiles with training, registration, licensing, testing, and insurance requirements. We consider all of these reasonable aspects with owning and driving a car because automobiles can be deadly. Also, we need public service messaging that depicts a reality, not the fear and pseudo-soldier aspects that drive the marketing of assault weapons.
A strong emphasis on education concerning guns and the consequences of firearms would be a start as many violent deaths are accidental or intentional within the family, including suicide and domestic violence. Gun ownership should be considered like automobiles with training, registration, licensing, testing, and insurance requirements. We consider all of these reasonable aspects with owning and driving a car because automobiles can be deadly. Also, we need public service messaging that depicts a reality, not the fear and pseudo-soldier aspects that drive the marketing of assault weapons.
For Iowa, climate change is represented by our soil's health and erosion. The rapid expansion of industrial agriculture in the last eighty years with its monoculture created by mechanized row crops, artificial fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and CAFOs has created an environment with poor, if not deadly, water and air, resulting in all sorts of health issues for children and adults. We have witnessed massive flooding and wind storms at a macro level as well as sterile soil and polluted waterways in a more micro level, destroying what was once our lovely prairie land.
