Attorney general says her office will resume paying for rape victims' emergency contraception

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird's office will resume reimbursing emergency contraception for rape victims under the state’s sexual abuse examination payment program.

Bird, a Republican, made the announcement on Friday at a press conference revealing the findings of a 16-month audit of the department's victim services that began when Bird took office in January of last year.

At the start of the audit, Bird paused reimbursements for emergency contraception under the program, which reimburses for services such as medical examinations for sexual assault and medications to prevent sexually transmitted illnesses and pregnancy.

The state is required to pay for medical examinations for sexual assaults, but not emergency contraception. These exams are funded using the Attorney General’s Crime Victim Compensation Program, which is made up of criminal fines and penalty fees, not taxpayer dollars.

Following the audit’s conclusion, Bird said her office will reimburse all 362 pending claims for emergency contraception and all future requests going forward.

"I want to make it clear that not one victim was denied services due to the audit. Not one victim was delayed in receiving services due to the audit," she said.

However, Bird said her office will no longer fund abortion requests under the program, including one pending request.

Bird's decision to pause the reimbursements during the audit drew criticism from Democrats and abortion rights supporters.

Planned Parenthood lobbyist Mazie Stilwell said in a statement that Bird's decision turned rape victims into "political pawns."

“Politicizing sexual assault survivors is absolutely reprehensible and sickening. These are real people who are vulnerable and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect," she said. "Although state-paid emergency contraceptives will resume, those in need of abortion care will now have to shoulder the cost. This is the last thing survivors should have to worry about. It’s not right, and we must demand better from the people elected to represent us.”

In March, State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat, said he was concerned about the amount of time that Bird's office was taking to review the policy and her decision to pause reimbursements for a service that he did not consider either a "problem area" or one that was "high risk."

Sand criticized Bird's decision again in a statement released Friday.

“For a year, Iowa’s Attorney General inflicted even more trauma on rape victims just for politics. We know because her report doesn’t provide a single legal or financial reason to have withheld payments for emergency contraception," Sand said.

According to records obtained by IPR, Assistant Attorney General John Gish, who is the victim assistance section chief, requested feedback in an email to a staff member in May 2023, as he said the victim services audit "winds down," a full year before Bird's office released its results.

On Friday, Bird said her office has spent the past year and a half conducting "a comprehensive, top-down bottom up audit of victim services."

Her office released a report detailing changes such as reinstating a system that notifies victims about the status of protective orders, which was eliminated under former Attorney General Tom Miller's office in 2019, and recommending doubling pay and reimbursing mileage for sexual assault nurse examiners as a way to address the shortage in the state.

"For too long, victims' needs haven't been properly met by the state of Iowa," Bird said. "But no longer. We are working to make sure that Iowa is effectively serving victims and preventing any victim from slipping through the cracks."