In response to the current push to add an amendment to Iowa’s constitution explicitly stating that the constitution doesn’t support or grant a right to abortion, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa recently launched the “we won’t go back” campaign.
The campaign is meant to fight back against what Planned Parenthood says would “pave the way to banning abortion in the state” by showcasing the voices of Iowa women who remember what life was like without safe, legal abortion access, and to share their stories.
“Iowa won’t go back to the time we didn’t have access to safe, legal abortion.” -Jamie Burch Elliott, Director of Public Affairs, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa
“Politicians in Des Moines have already begun anti-abortion attacks in the first weeks of legislative session. Anti-abortion legislators are trying to ram a constitutional amendment through the legislative process, limiting Iowans’ ability to weigh in on this extreme proposal, “said Jamie Burch Elliott, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa Director of Public Affairs. “Iowa won’t go back to the time we didn’t have access to safe, legal abortion. We’ll be speaking up with Iowans every step of the way.”
Two of the campaign’s stories include women talking about the lengths they and others had to go to in order to end unwanted pregnancies.
Oftentimes, women risked arrest and life-threatening danger in trying to find someone to perform an abortion or in trying to induce one themselves.
According to the press release issued by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa, “Before abortion was legal, many people were forced to take extraordinary lengths and risk their health in order to access abortion. Others were forced into marriage as young teenagers or shipped off by their parents to avoid being shamed for going against societal norms.”
The Des Moines Register conducted a poll last year and found that 54 percent of Iowans oppose the amendment to the constitution.
Nikoel Hytrek covers the Iowa Legislature for Potluck. Previously she has reported for Iowa Starting Line, the Iowa Feminist and the Omaha World Herald.