EMILYs List Statement on Iowa Supreme Court Overturning the Constitutional Right to Abortion in the

For Immediate Release
June 17, 2022 

EMILYs List Statement on Iowa Supreme Court Overturning the Constitutional Right to Abortion in the State

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down a 2018 ruling that protected the right to an abortion under the state’s constitution. With this decision, the court opened the doors for Iowa Republicans to restrict or completely ban abortion in the state, putting hundreds of thousands of Iowans at risk of losing access to reproductive health care. EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement:

“Today, as we see Republicans attack the reproductive rights constitutionally guaranteed to the people of Iowa, we are outraged. We are outraged on their behalf, and we are also outraged that the Supreme Court of the United States is poised to permit the incredibly harmful restrictions likely to follow as we face the fall of Roe v. Wade. Now, more than ever, it is urgent that we elect the Democratic pro-choice women up and down the ballot who will stand up as the last line of defense against these dangerous attacks to guarantee our reproductive freedom. In Iowa, EMILYs List stands with gubernatorial candidate Deidre DeJear, congressional candidates state Rep. Christina Bohannon (IA-01), state Sen. Liz Mathis (IA-02), Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03), and state House candidates Sonya Heitshusen (IA-HD28), Megan Srinivas (IA-HD30), and Mary Madison (IA-HD31) as they work to create a new, just pathway forward where we can make decisions for our bodies, our health, and our futures.” 

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country's first woman as vice president, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.