Check out the Iowa House Democrats Weekly Roundup with Jennifer Konfrst, followed by video of her appearance on Iowa Press last Friday. Please read, watch, donate and share! Sign up link below.  We agree with Jennifer, Rs are up to some serious crazy.

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It’s Sunday, and it has been another crazy and long week at the Iowa Capitol. So it’s time for the Weekly Roundup! Everyone’s favorite time, where we round up the top three wildest things Iowa Republicans did this week. Don’t want to keep you waiting too long so let’s get into it.

1. Iowa House Republicans introduced a bill that would severely limit access to abortion medications through a 19-step process, require doctors to provide false information to women, and even allow any member of the public to confirm an abortion has occurred.
Under this legislation, the only way for a medical institution to access these legal medications is by participating in this new state program, which would create an electronic record for the government every time the medication is dispensed and the medical personnel involved in the process. It also enforces felony convictions for any missteps taken throughout their 19-step process. For a party that claims to have government overreach, are we really not seeing the irony here?

2. Iowa House Republican proposes bill that would strip trans people of their civil rights.
Rep. Jeff Shipley (R- Fairfield), who has made it his personal mission to attack the LGBTQ+ community repeatedly in the Iowa House, has introduced HF 2082 which would take away the rights of some Iowans by removing gender identity from Iowa’s civil rights code. It’s bad for Iowans and it’s bad for business.

Last but not least…

3. Iowa Republicans propose that doctors should be able to refuse care based on their own “moral grounds.”
Wow, I wish I was making this up. Under this bill, medical institutions – ​​hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, or medical schools- and insurance companies would be allowed to opt out of performing and paying for procedures that violate “their conscience.” Yeah.

This is out of hand, the Governor and these GOP lawmakers have just gone too far. We need to bring common sense back to Iowa and start putting people over politics. Please, if you can, become a common sense supporter today and help us bring some balance back to Iowa!

CHIP IN TODAY!

Something has to change in 2024, and with your help, we can make it happen. Please, consider joining us today.

Until next week…
Iowa House Dems

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Thanks to Jennifer for doing such a great job of keeping everyone informed of what is happening at the state capitol.

If you put “Iowa Press” in the BFIA search box on the right side of this page, you will see my previous reviews of Iowa Press and the panel’s biased questioning style. In addition, in 2023, Republicans were invited to make appearances on the show twice as often as Democrats, appearing on the program 18 times in 2023 compared to 9 appearances by Democrats. Rob Sand, Iowa’s only elected statewide Democrat, has not been on the program since 2022.  Seems odd.

In this episode, the most glaring example of unequal treatment was Erin Murphy interrupting Jennifer Konfrst after she started answering his question, to tell her the other side would disagree with her on her framing. Shock shock, but since when has Iowa Press ever considered it their responsibility to correct Republicans? Answer : Never.  I watch this program somewhat religiously and I have never seen him or any other panelist interrupt a Republican to correct them on their framing of an issue. So he wanted her to respond to the other side’s argument but instead she schooled him on the fact that Rs intend to take civil rights away from transgender Iowans.

Then Murphy posed another question mentioning Iowa Democrats’ efforts to hold onto the first in the nation caucuses, which, he added were “unsuccessful,” prompting Konfrst to retort sarcastically, “thanks for pointing that out, Erin.” Murphy, apparently realizing some may think he was being a jerk or an idiot, said, “sorry.”

Democrats have to referee their own appearances on the program.  This after Kim Reynolds was allowed to go on a 3-minute nonstop rant last week blaming AEAs for all things wrong with Iowa pubic education and how someone (her)  had to stop the AEAs from ruining Education in Iowa. No one interrupted her or challenged her accuracy or framing of the issue.  Republicans get to say whatever they want, unimpeded.

Definitely watch if you can because Democrats are under-represented on the program.  So far this year there have been four episodes of Iowa Press and she is the first Democrat to be on following Nikki Haley, Pat Grassley, and Kim Reynolds.