3 House candidates call for more abortions
The eight main candidates running to represent Iowans in the House of Representatives offer stark contrasts when it comes to the abortion issue. Three House candidates call for an end to common sense abortion restrictions. Four support pro-life laws with limited exceptions. Pulse takes a look at Iowa House candidate positions on abortion:
District 1
Marionette Miller-Meeks [R] identifies as pro-life, supporting limiting abortions with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother. She receives an A+ rating from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America for consistently supporting pro-life legislation, including defunding Planned Parenthood.
Christina Bohannan [D], by contrast, identifies as a “reproductive rights champion”, receiving full-throated support from Mazie Stilwell, Public Affairs Director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa PAC:
“Christina Bohannan is committed to restoring Iowans’ right to make decisions about their health care and futures. With reproductive rights [i.e. abortion] champions in office like Christina we can move the needle forward and remove politicians from Iowans’ exam rooms.”
District 2
Joe Mitchell [R] identifies as pro-life:
”My constituents know I’m pro-life, always have been, always will be.”
As a member of the Iowa legislature, he voted in favor of a constitutional amendment banning abortion and supported Heartbeat Bill legislation. However, he says if elected to Congress, “I’m not going to vote on issues delegated to the states.” He clarifies that:
“The Dobbs decision made clear that abortion policy belongs with the states and their elected representatives, rather than being dictated by a one-size-fits-all federal standard.”
Lindsay James [D] is pro-abortion. She says: “We’re going to do everything we can to fight to restore Roe v Wade. Women are making impossible choices because of their healthcare realities. We’ve seen horrific attacks on women’s reproductive rights in the Iowa legislature. We’ve seen it at a federal level. We need to go back and restore Roe versus Wade.”
District 3
Zach Nunn [R] describes himself as pro-life. He supported the Iowa Heartbeat Bill as a state legislator in 2018. At the federal level, he voted against the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill designed to codify Roe v Wade and overturn abortion restrictions passed by state legislatures around the country. He believes the abortion issue should be left to the states, and would oppose a federal ban.
Sarah Trone Garriott [D], by contrast, is pro-abortion and voted against the Heartbeat Bill which dramatically reduced the number of abortions in Iowa. She pledges to codify Roe v Wade and eliminate a state’s right to regulate abortion.
District 4
Chris McGowan [R] is pro-life, describing his position this way:
”I am proud of my faith, devoted to my family, and committed to advancing freedom at home and abroad, including defending life from conception to natural death.”
Dave Dawson [D] hasn’t spoken on the abortion issue this campaign as far as we can tell.
Heartless public policy
Three of these candidates want to nationalize abortion and undo democratically-voted, common sense pro-life regulations.
The natural consequences of their public policy prescriptions represent a shocking level of heartlessness, even by today’s low bar.
Human abortion would skyrocket if pro-life protections for mothers and their babies were stripped away.
In Iowa, the impact would be particularly devastating. Set aside the bankrupt morality of abortion, which sanctions the killing of innocent human life in the womb.
Economic consequences
The economic consequence would be profound.
Iowa is a low population state. Our small towns struggle to survive as the population declines.
Every new baby born in the Hawkeye state is an economic breath of fresh air. As the Common Sense Institute of Iowa points out, net Iowa births in 2025 was “71% less than the average level observed between 1991 and 2019.”
Net births in Iowa were only 2949 last year, down from the already low 5721 the previous year.
We aborted 1792 babies in 2024. Had they been allowed to live, Iowa would have enjoyed 7513 net births in 2024.
But they weren’t allowed to live, and Iowa net births was nearly a quarter less than it should have been.
Three Iowa candidates for House of Representatives, Christina Bohannan, Lindsay James, and Sarah Trone Garriott, champion federal policies that would expand abortion, undoing the tremendous reductions in abortion that we’ve seen in Iowa since the passage of the Heartbeat Bill.
[Iowa abortions fell by 979 babies the year following the passage of the Heartbeat Bill.]
Fewer working age adults
The Common Sense Institute of Iowa points out the significance of robust population growth:
“Positive population growth can expand the labor force and broaden the tax base that supports public services and infrastructure. Conversely, prolonged population stagnation or decline can constrain economic expansion, limit business investment, and increase fiscal pressures as aging populations rely more heavily on public services and programs with fewer working-age adults to support them.”
The Iowa House candidate positions on abortion promoted by these three candidates will constrict the Iowa labor market and narrow the tax base that supports public services and infrastructure.
These abortion policies will increase fiscal pressures as aging populations rely more heavily on public services and programs with fewer working-age adults to support them.
Guess how many Iowa babies were aborted in the past decade? Roughly 30,000. And that number is down more than 15,000 abortions from the previous decade.
Imagine if we had all those people back!
The Iowa pro-abortion candidates running for House of Representatives want to turn the clock back with policies that will increase abortions in Iowa to the detriment of our prosperity and our souls.
