Legislative Report, Week #5
Telemed Abortion Ban Bill passes House
House File 2175 passed the Iowa House late Tuesday on a vote of 55 to 42, with 52 Republicans and 3 Democrats in favor. The legislation, under the direction of Rep. Kevin Koester, would not allow abortions to be performed by way of telemedicine, sometimes called “webcam.” Most disturbing were comments by Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, a Democrat from Ames. She suggested that women who know the trials and difficulties in raising children might want to preserve the option of an abortion. In other words she seemed to say that raising kids is hard and it might be better to kill them before they are born! What have we come to in this culture that a member of the Iowa House of Representatives would utter such things? In case you missed it, see our communication from earlier this week addressing the Telemed debate on the floor of the House and the subsequesnt vote: Click here >>
Common Core improvements rile House subcommittees
The Iowa Common Core curriculum for public schools is here. National efforts to “indoctrinate” Iowa children, under the guise of improved standards and practices, find expression in the Common Core. The FAMiLY LEADER has joined others in opposing this concept. Two bills (HF 2140 and HF 2141), both led by Rep. Sandy Salmon, were considered in sub-committee this past week. It appears that the Iowa Department of Education, business groups, the teacher’s union, and others will NOT support any changes to the national model. Unfortunately both bills appear to be dying in sub-committee, but citizens from around Iowa and the US will continue to fight for parental control of education!
Marriage
As we reported last week, the Iowa Marriage Amendment (IMA) is still held up in House Judiciary Committee. Chairman Chip Baltimore does not plan to bring it forward this year. In our past reports we have asked you to contact the Republican Majority members of the Committee. We would be remiss if we did not also ask you to contact the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. They have as much responsibility to do the right thing as other members. The Democrat leader on the committee is Rep. Mary Wolfe from Clinton. (We ask that you NOT contact her at this time. She is mourning the loss of two sisters who were murdered in Pennsylvania last week). Other Democrats on the committee include:
Marti Anderson
District 36,Polk marti.anderson@legis.iowa.gov
David Dawson
District 14,Woodbury dave.dawson@legis.iowa.gov
Vicki Lensing
District 85, Johnson vicki.lensing@legis.iowa.gov
Brian Meyer
District 33,Polk brian.meyer@legis.iowa.gov
Jo Oldson
District 41,Polk jo.oldson@legis.iowa.gov
Rick Olson
District 31,Polk rick.olson@legis.iowa.gov
Todd Prichard
District 52,Floyd todd.prichard@legis.iowa.gov
Beth Wessel-Kroeschell
District 45,Story beth.wessel-kroeschell@legis.iowa.gov
Capitol Bible Study
Please join many legislators, staff, and lobbyists at the Thursday morning Bible Study as I (Chuck) have the privilege of leading this week. It runs from 7:30 – 8 a.m., in Room 103; if you can stick around, we can show you around, use your help, etc.
In Christ,
Chuck Hurley
Danny Carroll
Greg Baker
Tamara Scott
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