Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, the state’s first female governor, marked International Women’s Day Friday in a message posted on social media.
“Every time a young girl visits my office, I invite her to sit in my chair,” Reynolds said in posting a photo of herself with a young girl. “It lets her know women can be or do anything they want in this world.”
Reynolds has been a powerful advocate on women’s issues. She signed a “fetal heartbeat” abortion bill in 2018 that prohibited abortions after about six weeks, making it among the most restrictive abortion bans in the U.S. A Polk County district court judge struck down as unconstitutional the “fetal heartbeat” law in January.
Part of a 2017 law that banned abortions after 20 weeks, signed by Reynold’s predecessor in office, Gov. Terry E. Branstad, included a provision that a woman must wait 72 hours after an initial medical consultation to have the procedure. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled in 2018 the 72-hour waiting period was unconstitutional.
Funding cuts by the Iowa Legislature in 2017 forced the closure of four Planned Parenthood facilities, leaving more than 14,000 women and men without primary family-planning services.
The governor’s advocacy on women’s issues appeared again this week when the Reynold’s administration refused to release information about how many harassment complaints are being investigated in state agencies. The state lawmaker seeking the information, Rep. Amy Nielsen, D-North Liberty, filed a complaint Wednesday with the Iowa Public Information Board.
Nielsen said the state recently paid $7.5 million to four women who were sexually harassed while working for the Iowa Legislature and state agencies, and these agencies could possibly be paying for other legal settlements with discretionary funds without the public’s awareness.
Reynolds said she tells little girls that “the opportunities are endless.”
