Iowa state Sens. Janet Petersen, Herman Quirmbach, Todd Taylor, and Janice Weiner sent a letter to Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird on Thursday demanding answers on a stalled “audit” of the state’s victims’ services program, which her office has used to deny funding for medical care for survivors of sexual assault.
In the letter, the senators seek an explanation of the legal basis for Bird’s withholding of funds for emergency contraception and abortion services. State law and administrative rules clearly state that such services must be provided, raising serious questions about the legality of Bird’s decision to defund critical health services to victims of rape and incest.
“…no law or rule grants the Attorney General the discretion to prohibit medical care she personally disagrees with,” the senators wrote in the letter. “If you have evidence to the contrary, we would very much like to see it.”
Bird has barred state reimbursement for these health services for more than eight months now, and said last week that the audit is still ongoing.
The senators’ letter comes three months after a previous request for information from the office, which the attorney general never formally responded to. As in that first request, today’s letter seeks an explanation of Bird’s rationale for suspending critical victims services funding; an expected timeline for the office’s ongoing audit of victims services; and a list of all the services to survivors that have been suspended during that audit.
“Depriving funding for medical care to victims while your office continues its seemingly indefinite and indefensible audit is an attack on justice,” the senators wrote. “This deprivation is yet another violation to the victim’s bodily autonomy. Victims, advocates, prosecutors, and law enforcement deserve to know why needed resources are being withheld by your office.”
The full letter is available here.
Petersen, D-Des Moines, serves on the Senate Judiciary and Health and Human Services committees, and is a longtime advocate for women, children, and survivors of sexual assault. Taylor, D-Cedar Rapids, is the ranking member on the Senate Justice Systems Appropriations Subcommittee. Quirmbach, D-Ames, and Weiner, D-Iowa City, serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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