Meeting Public Comments

Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz []

It is a gross appropriation of state funds to funnel money into crisis pregnancy centers. The Alliance: State Advocates for Women's Rights and Gender Equality summarizes the CPC mission and their threat to reproductive health care well: "The contemporary CPC industry is a nationwide, governmentfunded, digitally sophisticated network that targets lowincome pregnant people who may or may not be considering abortion, collects their sensitive medical and personal information, and feeds it to antiabortion organizations that store big data without clear privacy protections."Please consult their brief on CPCs and surveillance here: https://alliancestateadvocates.org/wpcontent/uploads/sites/107/AllianceCPCReportFeb2022UrgentBrief21022.pdf Stop funding CPCs. Fund *real* health care effortsfor example, efforts to reduce maternal mortality and its disproportionate impact on communities of color, efforts to ensure that rural hospitals and labor/delivery wards stay open, and efforts to affirm the rights of trans youth to appropriate medical care.

Kaylee Oxendale []

CPCs are not viable Healthcare centers. At all. Continuing to provide funding to these places would be a gross misuse of government, and therefore, public, funds. Rather than funding CPCs, provide funding to real clinics, public schools, or practically any other social welfare existing at the moment.

Mica Chase []

I really don't want my tax money going to the type of clinic I walked into when I was 19 years old. The clinic I went to was a sham. They lied to me about basic reproductive and sexual healthcare, there were no real medical providers, they shamed me for getting pregnant and not having a plan. I was 19!!! I was so going and scared and this place was a horrible experience. Why are we even thinking about supporting these crisis pregnancy centers? We HAVE real healthcare solutions that have be PROVEN to work. We should be putting money into places we know work. NOT places that are designed to manipulate.

Virginia Swift []

This is an absolute misappropriation of public funds. These are funds for the people of the state of Iowa and should be used for moving the state forward, not backwards. These are not true medical clinics and do not follow accurate medical protocols. Let them raise their own money to fund the fake clinics. If they cant raise enough money on their own then they should close the clinics.

Martha Shaw []

I object to state tax payer funds being used to support these sham MOMS clinics. They lie to woman; they are not staffed by trained medical personnel and they provide misinformation. The state has failed to find an appropriate admintrator to oversee their functioning. These sham clinics are bad for women and bad for Iowa.

Laura Carlson [Citizen]

We founded a pregnancy resource center in our rural community. We are serving without regard to income, religion, race, marital status dozens of young families who need a boost. A pregnancy center we refer women to is Christian based. They provide medical ultrasounds the machine purchased with private donations to women free of charge. Educating pregnant women about a pregnancy, heartbeat, health issues and the importance of having proper medical supervision during a pregnancy are important. Many women don't want to walk into a Planned Parenthood. PP uses income guidelines and charges a fee. They don't provide an ultrasound nor help set up doctor appointments for prenatal visits during the pregnancy. Crisis pregnancy centers offer a variety of services and referrals free to women in need. The services we offer in these centers range from providing pregnancy tests to assisting with transportation to the doctor appointments during pregnancy. 2024 is a new world, many comments may reflect decades old visits to other centers. Currently, no religious testing is used. We offer help to couples or singles seeking STD testing, counseling on options in an unplanned pregnancy. The only thing we don't provide is an abortion. We tell patients exactly what an abortion is medically so they are fully informed. Education is imperative for informed patient decisions. CPC fill important void in our communities. Please move this bill forward in Iowa so we can continue to support our citizens with accurate and science based education.