Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland has filed a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of a Nebraska law — LB 594, also known as the Women’s Health Protection Act — saying its requirements are impossible to meet and it forces physicians to provide false and misleading info.
The legislation, which was passed in April and is scheduled to go into effect on July 15, has been controversial for several months. According to Planned Parenthood, which services portions of Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska, the law in question seeks to “ensure that women are ‘informed’ before consenting to an abortion, [but] actually imposes requirements that are both impossible to meet and require physicians to flood their patients with false and misleading information.”
The lawsuit names Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, Attorney General Jon Bruning, Kerry Winterer and Dr. Joann Schaefer of the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, and Crystal Higgins and Brenda Bergman-Evans of the Boards of Nursing and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses as defendants. It was filed in federal district court in Lincoln, Neb.
“Our clients rely upon us to provide honest, medically accurate and client-centered information,” said Jill June, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. “We are filing suit today so that women can make truly informed decisions about their health care. Presenting pseudo-science as fact is something that Planned Parenthood does not do.”
The suit maintains that it is not possible to comply to the law’s mandates, or that the requirements are too vague for a physician to be certain that he or she has complied. The suit also charges that it is not constitutional to force physicians either to cease providing abortion care, or always be at risk of penalty for non-compliance. Finally, the suit also maintains that it is a violation of doctors’ First Amendment rights to compel them to make medical statements they know are false.
“We intend to take this case as far as necessary to protect the rights and health of the women we serve,” June said.
Those who support the bill believe it better protects women from undergoing coerced abortions and allows women to hold abortion providers liable for “avoidable injuries,” which includes “psychological problems” following an abortion.
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