What’s next after Iowa Supreme Court rules against six-week abortion ban

The Iowa Supreme Court’s split decision means that abortions in Iowa will remain legal up to twenty weeks. If the ruling had gone the other way, abortion would be illegal after six weeks — before many women even know they’re pregnant!

Undaunted, Governor Reynolds said after the ruling, “We are reviewing our options in preparation for continuing the fight.”

Charles and I discuss what those options might be …

I’ll leave you with an important caveat. The extent to which Republicans have gone to undermine the freedom of pregnant women has already landed the GOP a whole lot of political baggage. They’ll certainly keep pushing for even more draconian measures, in Iowa and across the country. Some of those measures may pass, and many people, especially mothers, will be hurt.

But the powerful can only go so far in negating personal freedom before the mass of people rise up and say, “Enough!” We’re already seeing that happen, and the groundswell for a restoration of sanity on abortion policy will only continue to build. Continue Reading →

Questioning Biden’s commitment to climate action

Sometimes you get to see the big picture by studying little things. Not that the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is small potatoes, but Biden clearly, repeatedly, and emphatically stated his opposition to DAPL during the campaign in 2019.

Yet Biden refuses to stop the proposed expansion of DAPL. Work on DAPL’s pumping station near Cambridge, Iowa, is happening NOW. Once that work is finished, DAPL can double the flow of oil — doubling the damage to our climate and increasing the risk to our land and water.

So, yeah, I’m nervous — and skeptical, because if President Biden was telling the truth in 2019, he should have stepped in by now to stop this expansion. It can still be stopped, but time is running out, and Biden shows no sign of weighing in. Continue Reading →