How Iowa Attorney General candidates stand on abortion
Brenna Bird-R (left) and Nate Willems-D
The candidates for Iowa Attorney General in 2026 are incumbent Brenna Bird-R and challenger Nate Willems-D.
Bird has consistently staked out a solid, pro-life position:
“I’m 100 percent pro-life, and it will be my job as attorney general to defend the law that the legislature would pass.”
Her uncompromising pro-life position helped Bird defeat her predecessor, Tom Miller-D, who refused to defend Iowa’s Fetal Heartbeat Bill in 2018. Up to that point, Miller had been unbeatable, winning ten AG elections and serving forty years in this critical position. His unwillingness to support a pro-life law Iowans wanted cost him his reelection.
Nate Willems is pro abortion. He believes that Iowa’s Fetal Heartbeat Law “goes too far.” He supports the Roe v Wade framework. On the one hand, Willets believes that abortion should be between a woman and her doctor, and not regulated by politicians.
On the other hand, his embrace of Roe suggests that he wants politicians at the federal level to regulate abortion. His party pushes to ‘codify’ Roe, code words for federal regulation (elimination) of states right to determine the degree of regulation called for by their citizens.
Brenna Bird has spoken at Pulse Life Advocate events as well as at the Iowa March for Life on multiple occasions.
The AG position affects crime rates
The U.S. has experimented with two approaches this past decade: social justice verses traditional law and order. Blue State AGs are more likely to embrace the social justice approach, very much in vogue with the previous administration, compared to Red States’ implementation of traditional law and order.
Felony violent crimes rose 59% during the previous administration; they have been in free fall with the current administration. Since 2024:
- Aggravated assault dropped 31%
- Property victimization dropped 19%
- Burglary/trespassing dropped 25%
- Motor vehicle theft dropped 30%
- Other forms of household theft dropped 19%.
The murder rate during this current administration is the lowest since 1955 and 1956. Professor Carl Moody, a crime researcher at the College of William & Mary, observes:
“We are witnessing a historic plunge in crime to levels never seen before in the United States. As a result, we are all safer in our communities than we ever have been. We should all thank our law enforcement professionals.”
Why? Why did crime spike during the Biden years and plunge during the Trump years? Was it simply because of the Covid pandemic? Writing for RealClearInvestigations, John Lott says no. The main factor was the change in AG prosecution practices in a number of major jurisdictions, shifting from a social justice model to a law and order model.
In addition, immigration law enforcement has removed thousands of gang members from U.S. soil, most of whom had criminal records.
Brenna Bird has demonstrated a law and order mindset to keep Iowans safe. Willems’ focus is on corporate malfeasance and environmental enforcement. Says Willems:
“Corporations are reasonable, logical entities, and they see that if it costs more money to break the law rather than to follow the law, that will lead them to follow the law.”
Brenna Bird and Nate Willems provide striking contrasts this election cycle on the issues of abortion and the role of the Iowa Attorney General.
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