By CHUCK OFFENBURGER

JEFFERSON, Iowa, Oct. 19, 2024 — I don’t think it’s ever been tougher being a pro-life Democrat in Iowa than it is right now, a time in which the party is hanging its hat on the issue of “reproductive rights” or “reproductive freedom” and vowing to overturn Iowa’s new restrictive abortion law.

And yet, when I voted this past Wednesday, on the first day of “early voting” in this general election, I came closer than ever before to voting a straight Democratic ticket.  I voted for two Republicans here in Greene County, where I have my voter registration, and neither of them had Democratic opposition.

And that was my only straying from Democratic candidates, right on through the top of the ticket.

Why?

–I am grateful to Trump, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and other Republicans for leading us to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which was the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 that legalized abortion, and for bringing us new restrictions on abortions in many of the states.  But in the powerful political machine they built to get that done, they have now lost themselves.  In Iowa, Republicans’ over-reach has eroded K-12 public education while sending tax dollars to private schools, underfunded higher education, gutted job security for public employees, cut the size of what had been a great state government in about half, refused federal government assistance that would have been very beneficial to the poorest Iowans, and threatened the security of newcomers to this nation who have kept several industries operating as key economic engines.  Republicans have proved once again that when there’s essentially one-party rule – by either party – it’s not a good thing for Iowa or America.

–While opposing abortion has been the political position I have held the longest, since at least 1990, I am not a single-issue voter. Never have been.

Maybe I’m out-of-step with both parties.  Maybe I’m out-of-step with most of Iowa.

A month ago, the Des Moines Register began releasing the results of its most recent Iowa Poll.  They’d done surveys of how Iowans are feeling about the races for president and the U.S. House, about how top state officials are performing their jobs, and other topics.

One poll that grabbed my attention was whether Iowans think Republican Trump or Democrat Harris “would do a better job” on seven specific issues.

On the issues of how they would do on inflation, immigration, relations with China, the war between Russia and Ukraine, the war between Israel and Hamas, and housing prices, a majority said they favored Trump.  On only one issue – abortion – did a majority think Harris would do a better job.

Wow.  My opinions were, and are, exactly the opposite of the majorities there.

So it goes being a pro-life Democrat in Iowa, especially right now.

Many of you know that for decades, I’ve voted and been active across the political spectrum.

From the late 1960s until the mid 1990s, I was consistently a Democrat.  Over that time, I at first referred to myself as a proud Democrat, then later “a Teresan Democrat” (“I’m for whatever Mother Teresa is for and against whatever she’s against”), and eventually a “FUD” (“Fed Up Democrat”).

By 1996, I started leaning, then-going Republican.  The abortion issue led me there.  And so did Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, whose first four terms I really admired, and former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander when he ran for president.

Though I registered as a Republican then, I still voted a mixed ticket for the next dozen years, including voting for Democrats like Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and President Barack Obama.

In 2012, I became a Democrat again, volunteering in the unsuccessful congressional campaign of my friend and journalism colleague Christie Vilsack, the former first lady of Iowa.

In 2018, I briefly registered as a Libertarian! That was in solidarity with Thomas Laehn, of that splinter party, when he ran for Greene County Attorney and was elected.

Then I returned to the Democratic fold, except for my brief sashay across party lines to become a Republican late last year.  That’s when I endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in this current presidential cycle, and truthfully, I wish she was still in the race.

But last January, the day after the Iowa Caucuses, I went hastily back to the Greene County Auditor’s office and changed my registration back to being a Democrat.

My wife Mary Riche, a lifelong Democrat, has been actively pro-choice since the current feminist movement began stirring in the 1960s.  She regards women having an absolute right to make their own decisions on when and whether to give birth, as a basic “freedom” issue.

She has long been a leader in fundraising, direction and volunteering for Planned Parenthood in Iowa.

In the past 18 months, she has been one of the organizers and key advisors of a new organization Iowans for Health Liberty, which has raised more than $202,000 and distributed it to pro-choice candidates for the Iowa legislature who appear to be in winnable races.  You can learn more about the organization on its website https://iowans4healthliberty.com/.

I’m extremely proud of her long history of advocacy on the issue, as well as all she’s done for Iowans for Health Liberty.  I’ve even helped out when asked, and I’ve attended some rallies.

While we have what are probably unresolvable differences on this one issue, I do respect her thinking on it, and I continue to learn from our discussions of it.  We try to avoid letting those discussions become too contentious.

Just as I don’t think my pro-life position defines me, I think Mary Riche is about a whole lot more than her pro-choice position.

She says her friends are always surprised when they find out I’m opposed to abortion.

For the record, I have written publicly about my pro-life position dozens of times over the last 35 years.

The earliest reference I made to my position on the issue that I’ve been able to find came in my Jan. 14, 1990, column on page one of the Iowa News Section in the Des Moines Sunday Register.  The day before I’d covered what had been billed as “the biggest anti-abortion rally ever in Iowa,” outdoors on the east side of the State Capitol.

I wrote that the rally “turned out to be more ‘pro’ than ‘anti.’ It was more prayer service than protest.”  Then I added:

“Yes, of course, my own discomfort over the abortion issue is showing through here.  It’s becoming less publicly acceptable to be where I am – which is in the middle.” (Remember, this was 1990.)

“I’ve considered it deeply, prayerfully, honestly,” I continued. “I believe in the sanctity of life and that it begins at conception.  I think that means I’m anti-abortion.  But infringement by government or anybody else on a woman’s self-determination over what happens to, with and in her own body really bothers me.  I think that makes me a supporter of abortion rights.

“I’ve shuddered over what an all-out abortion fight might do to Iowa.”

Well, that seems to be what we’re involved in right now.

For me, one aspect of all this is very different from the early years after Roe v. Wade.

Before 1990, I don’t recall statistics being published or being easily researchable about how many abortions were occurring in Iowa and the nation.

Now we know that since early 1973, there have been more than 200,000 abortions in our state, an average of about 4,000 per year.  Those numbers are rarely ever mentioned.

Is there anybody who thinks that toll is O.K.?  That it’s not a problem?

I’ve been involved in several projects promoting growth of Iowa’s workforce and population since the late 1990s.  What we’ve known back then, and now, is that we have consistently had about the same number of open jobs in the state as the number of reported abortions.  Lately, that number has been about 200,000.

And here’s a statistic that has bothered me deeply: If you’re an Iowan born in 1973 or later – like my own son – about 10 percent of all those who could have been in your age group are not here. I’m horrified at how much potential talent, leadership, achievement – and life – has been aborted.

What seems increasingly clear to me is that our public concern over “bodily autonomy” for women is focused much too late in the birthing process.

It seems to me much more focus should be focused at the beginning of it, with:

–Better sex education for all in our early years of fertility.

–New emphasis on what the responsibilities and consequences of lovemaking are, being clear that if you are having unprotected sex and a pregnancy results, your life will change drastically.

–Providing free and effective contraception for all.

–And since Iowa has become a state trying to drastically limit abortions, we must have excellent, affordable and generally available maternal health and early childhood development programs. And much-improved adoption services.

While Iowa’s new restrictive abortion law is now in effect, there is still much governmental and societal work to do on it.

There should be reassurances that there is going to be no attempt to stop in vitro fertilization.

Likewise, there should be reassurances that there will be no attempt to stop contraception.

Pro-choice advocates say that the law is not clear on what “exceptions” will make abortions allowable.  Will it be in cases of rape, incest and to save the life of the mother?  How is that to be requested, and who makes the decision?

Are there to be criminal penalties if abortions are found to have been performed “illegally”?  What would those be?  Who would be charged?

While the questions and the arguments are very tough, very complex, I think going through all this is ultimately going to be good for all of us.

It’s a matter of life or death.  We must get it right.

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You can comment on this column below or write the columnist directly by email at chuck@offenburger.com.