DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa attorney general’s office said Friday it will resume funding emergency contraception for victims of sexual violence but end the rare practice of reimbursing victims for abortions.
Attorney General Brenna Bird, a Republican, suspended funding pending the results of a comprehensive review of services that began when she took office in 2023.
“I agree that Plan B contraceptive prescriptions to victims to prevent pregnancy should be reimbursed. … However, Iowa will not use public dollars to pay for abortions,” said Bird, who campaigned on her opposition to abortion and her commitment to defending the state’s restrictive abortion law.
The more than 350 late payments were heavily criticized by Democrats and abortion rights advocates.
The results of the review were released Friday, when Bird announced a review of the Victim Assistance Division to correct Iowa code noncompliance issues they had uncovered and to improve services.
Bird said there has not been a system in place since 2019 that notifies victims of domestic violence and sexual assault when a requested order of protection has been issued and again 30 days before it expires, as required by Iowa law. Work to build a new system is underway, she said.
Bird also recommended a change in administrative rules that would increase compensation for sexual assault nurse examiners from $200 to $400 per exam. In the meantime, her office will begin reimbursing nurses for the mileage required to get to and from exam sites.
“Victims deserve immediate care and our nursing heroes deserve our support,” Bird said.
Federal and state laws require that the costs of medical examinations of sexual assault victims be covered to ensure that forensic evidence is collected quickly and appropriately. In Iowa, costs are covered by state and federal criminal fines and penalties.
The policy of Bird’s Democratic predecessor, Tom Miller, was to partially cover the cost of contraception for victims of sexual violence. In rare cases, the cost of abortion for victims of sexual violence has also been covered, the director of the previous attorney general’s Victim Assistance Division, Sandi Tibbetts Murphy, told the Des Moines Register last year.
During the 16-month assessment, victim services continued, but reimbursement payments for Plan B and abortion services were halted. Bird said Friday that the review “took as long as it needed to get done right.”
According to the Attorney General’s Office, 362 requests for emergency contraception submitted during this period will be reimbursed immediately after verifying the information with the hospitals.
A claim for abortion expenses will not be reimbursed.
Mazie Stilwell, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa, said the audit was a “reprehensible” politicization of victims of sexual violence.
“For months, Attorney General Bird needlessly denied reimbursement to hundreds of survivors of sexual violence, turning them into political pawns,” she said in a statement.
“While state-paid emergency contraceptives will resume, those in need of abortion care will now have to bear the costs,” Stilwell added. “This is the last thing survivors should worry about.”
The attorney general’s report released Friday indicates that the practice of reimbursing emergency contraception will continue as long as the provider “certifies that the prescription was to prevent ovulation and not to prevent implantation of an embryo.”
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