DES MOINES, Iowa, June 30, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The Iowa Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the state can ban abortion providers like Planned Parenthood from taxpayer-funded sexual education programs.
In a 6-1 decision, the high court ruled in favor of legislation passed by Iowa lawmakers and signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) in 2019. The law, House File 766, includes sections that block abortion providers from receiving federal grant money through two sexual education and teen pregnancy prevention programs.
The ruling reverses a decision by a lower court in 2020 that placed a permanent injunction on enforcement of the ban after a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood. According to local news, Planned Parenthood, which commits around 95% of abortions in Iowa, received nearly $200,000 last year through the two state-run programs, Community Adolescent Pregnancy Program (CAPP) and Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP).
The court’s majority opinion, written by Justice Dana Oxley, noted “three different purposes” for Iowa’s exclusion of Planned Parenthood in CAPP and PREP, affirming all of the purposes as “legitimate.”
“The State presented three different purposes for the law: to express its preference for childbirth over abortion, to ensure that its state-sponsored sexual education message is not delivered by
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