Rebecca Schweitzer Iowa: Why I Am Speaking Out About Abortion Policy and Women’s Healthcare

I was born and raised in Iowa. I have lived here my entire life. And lately, I find myself asking hard questions about the direction our state is heading.

When I look at what is happening in the Iowa Legislature, especially around abortion policy, I struggle to reconcile the Iowa I love with the laws being proposed.

Two recently introduced bills should concern anyone who cares about women’s healthcare, rural medical access, and personal freedom in Iowa.

New Abortion Legislation in Iowa

One proposal, House Study Bill 3115, would require abortion medication to be prescribed and administered in person. That would effectively restrict telehealth and mail access to medication abortion.

Iowa already faces a shortage of medical professionals, particularly in rural communities. For many women, accessing healthcare requires significant travel. Adding additional barriers does not expand safety. It limits access.

Another proposal, House Study Bill 2316, would define personhood at conception under criminal and civil law. In effect, this could expose women to homicide charges for obtaining an abortion.

Iowa already has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country. These additional proposals move even further toward criminalization.

When people search Rebecca Schweitzer Iowa, I want them to understand clearly: I am pro-choice because I have seen firsthand what pregnancy can mean when things go wrong.

Why Abortion Policy in Iowa Is Personal to Me

I am the youngest of three living daughters. But in truth, I have four sisters.

My mother’s first pregnancy resulted in a healthy baby. Her second pregnancy appeared healthy until delivery, when doctors discovered my sister had Meckel Gruber syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. She lived only minutes.

A later pregnancy appeared normal. That sister was born healthy. But the next pregnancy again resulted in the same rare disorder. My parents buried another child.

When my mother was pregnant with me, she underwent every test available at the time, even traveling to Iowa City for additional screening. But they did not truly know I was healthy until I was born.

That kind of trauma changes a family forever.

Growing up in Iowa, mental health was not openly discussed the way it is today. The grief lingered in quiet ways. My oldest sister remembers the funerals. My parents carried unimaginable pain.

Years later, my father told me he did not want my mother to continue the pregnancy with me. Not because he did not love me, but because he could not endure burying another child.

I understood that. I still do.

If modern genetic screening had existed decades ago and revealed what was coming, I would have supported my mother choosing not to continue those pregnancies. No parent should be forced to endure repeated loss when medical science provides information that could guide different choices.

Pregnancy Is Complex and Risky

My family’s experience did not stop there.

One of my sisters later miscarried. She eventually gave birth to premature twins who spent months in the NICU. They are thriving today, but those early years brought emotional and financial strain few people fully understand.

Another sister experienced complications during pregnancy. She was turned away from care at a Catholic hospital despite being in pain. Weeks later, doctors confirmed she had a severe infection and would need to end a pregnancy that would not survive in order to protect her own health.

She held a funeral. It took years of therapy to process that trauma.

These are not abstract political debates for my family. They are lived experiences shaped by real medical crises.

Why I Support Choice in Iowa

When I read about abortion restrictions in Iowa, I do not think in slogans. I think about my mother holding babies who did not survive. I think about my sister being sent home in pain. I think about the emotional toll that never fully disappears.

Pregnancy carries medical risk, financial risk, and emotional risk. Every woman must be allowed to weigh those realities for herself.

I do not have children. I know that my upbringing plays a role in that decision. Not everyone is equipped to carry the weight of what pregnancy can bring. That choice should belong to the individual, not to lawmakers without medical training.

Calling women criminals or murderers for making complex medical decisions is not compassionate. It is punitive.

No woman becomes pregnant simply to have an abortion. These decisions are deeply personal and often heartbreaking.

If someone personally opposes abortion, they have the right not to choose it. But forcing others to live under one belief system is not freedom. Laws should protect individual liberty, not impose a single religious perspective.

Iowa Can Do Better

I love Iowa. I have lived here my entire life.

But loving a place also means holding it accountable.

We are already facing shortages in OB-GYN providers and rural healthcare access. Instead of expanding maternal care and supporting families, we are debating how to criminalize women and restrict medical decisions.

That is not strengthening families. It is creating fear.

When people search Rebecca Schweitzer Iowa, I want them to know that I believe women deserve autonomy, families deserve compassion, and medical decisions belong in exam rooms, not in the Iowa Capitol.

Full stop.

Rebecca Schweitzer
Iowa