Letter to the Editor: Submitted by Kathy Hannum

To the Editor:

Governor Reynolds and her MAGA Republicans will not stop until a woman’s right to control her own body has been taken away from her.

Most of us try to live our lives without interfering in other people’s lives. We know that a woman may end a pregnancy for different reasons. We cannot make a woman’s decision because we have not walked in her shoes. Tragically, sometimes a woman gets a diagnosis of a serious health complication that threatens her life or health. Other times, a family learns late in pregnancy there is a serious fetal diagnosis, or the baby is dying and can’t survive. When people are making difficult, personal medical decisions, one-size-fits-all laws don’t work.

It’s wrong to interfere in people’s lives like this, for political reasons. When it comes to abortion or pregnancy loss, legislators can’t know what every family is going through. Real people are going to be hurt by Governor Reynold’s one-size-fits-all restrictions. The fact is, her real agenda is a six-week abortion ban with no exceptions. Most women will not even know they are pregnant as a late or missed menstrual period happens frequently for many different reasons. A child who has been raped may not seek help from a caring adult until it is too late to terminate a pregnancy.

Whatever the reason, it is not the job of government to interfere with her life. Unless she has the misfortune to live in Iowa.

Kathy Hannum
Waukon