3 key moments from Miller-Meeks, Bohannan debate

Catch up on last night’s Iowa PBS debate featuring U.S. Rep Mariannette Miller-Meeks and challenger Christina Bohannan.

Iowa is 14 days out from learning the fate of Iowa’s 1st Congressional District seat. The race has been called a “toss-up” by political analysts. Whether they’re right or not, the district will play an important role in which party takes power in the U.S. House, currently divided by a very small margin. 

This year, Republican incumbent US Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan squared off over abortion, the border, and COVID relief. You can watch the full debate online on Iowa PBS. Here are three moments that stood out. 

Watch the full Iowa PBS debate here.

Miller-Meeks says she backs exceptions for abortion but voted other way

Since this election cycle began in *checks calendar* 2022, abortion has remained a prominent feature of the conversation. And in addition to getting the first question, it earned our first take-away moment.

In response to a question from Gray Television’s Iowa Political Director Dave Price, Miller-Meeks said she supported the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and return the question of whether to ban abortions to the states.

Bohannan: “To say that you support the state position means that you support the very extreme six-week ban that is now in place in Iowa. It bans abortion before most women even know that they are pregnant. But the fact is that she went further in Congress and supported the Life of Conception bill. And you know, it is just disingenuous. 

Miller-Meeks: “Excuse me, the Life at Conception Bill didn’t bring up abortion. You have declined to say when…you would stop abortion. Would it be 39 weeks? Would it be 37 weeks?”

Bohannan: “You spoke and I’m responding. You know, the Life at Conception bill, it is a personhood bill. It creates the full rights of personhood at the moment of conception. Everybody knows that the legal consequences of that is a complete abortion ban with no exceptions across the country.”

For Miller-Meeks’ second reelection campaign, this vote has hounded her: Miller-Meeks first term in Congress was 2021, and that year, she joined 160 Republicans to co-sponsor a bill giving the “right to life” at “the moment of fertilization.” 

Miller-Meeks’ bill came up before the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Since then, states like Iowa have rushed in to implement near-total bans on abortion. With a right to an abortion thrown out, previously normal procedures like IVF—where eggs are fertilized, chosen and some discarded—became the subject of concern. 

Miller-Meeks has added IVF to the list of exceptions she supports where a fertilized egg can be destroyed. The others are in the instance of “rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother.” But that, as Bohannan pointed out, is at odds with what the Life at Conception bill would have done.

The abortion ban DOES impact Iowa’s maternal care shortage

During her answer on abortion, Bohannan spoke about the impact Iowa’s six-week abortion ban has had on the state; an answer that Miller-Meeks returned to later in the debate:

Bohannan: It’s creating a lot of problems for women around the state. You know we are 50th out of 50 in the country for the number of OBGYNs we have in the state. And that is creating all kinds of problems. We know that these abortion bans make that even worse.
…
Miller-Meeks: She’s conflating an issue. One she brought up: the lack of OBGYN providers, conflating that with abortion. It has nothing to do with that.

It is true that there are many attributes that impact where OBGYNs choose to live. But it is untrue that the state’s six-week abortion hasn’t impacted Iowa’s ability to draw members of the profession. 

In 2023, the number of applicants for OBGYN residency programs was down, but none so much as in states with strict abortion bans. Programs in those states saw a 11% drop in applicants compared to the previous year. These residency programs are part of a recruitment effort for states that year-over-year are seeing a drop in the number of OBGYNs per 10,000 women of reproductive age.

The crisis is particularly acute in rural Iowa where 40 of 61 rural counties have no OB-GYN units. And in fact, 41 mostly-rural birthing units closed between 2000 and 2021. That means longer trips and fewer options for in routine maternal care. 

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has maintained abortion is health care.

“Induced abortion is an essential component of women’s health care. Like all medical matters, decisions regarding abortion should be made by patients in consultation with their health care providers and without undue interference by outside parties. Like all patients, women obtaining abortion are entitled to privacy, dignity, respect, and support,” the group representing 57,000 members wrote.

Miller-Meeks: Bipartisan border bill ‘never had a chance’

During Monday’s debate, Bohannan brought up the bipartisan bill on the US-Mexico border that could have been that something—if Donald Trump hadn’t instructed Republicans to kill it.

Earlier this year, the US Senate released a $118 billion bipartisan border security bill funding an increase in ICE’s detention capacity from 34,000 to 50,000. It also forced the government to shut down the border in cases where the rolling average of border encounters reached a certain level. It toughened asylum requirements and expedited removal authority. And it allocated $20 billion to immigration enforcement. 

The bill in question had broad bipartisan support from President Joe Biden, the union representing US Border Patrol agents and even Iowa’s own US Sen. Joni Ernst. But the bill was missing one important booster.

“A BAD BORDER DEAL IS FAR WORSE THAN NO BORDER DEAL!” former President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social.

When Miller-Meeks explained why her caucus came out against the bill, she didn’t mention Trump’s role.

Miller-Meeks: The bill that she’s talking about wasn’t even voted upon in the Senate. It never had a chance, was not going to be voted on, and did not come to the House to be voted on. In addition to that, I’ve been to the border. I’ve talked to the Border Patrol agents. They do not feel they’re being supported. They feel they’re processing people through the border. There are untold drugs, untold people on the Terror Watch List coming across our border now. And these are the felt policies in the Biden-Harris administration.

But after reached a record high at the end of 2023, the number of US Border Patrol encounters with migrants crossing into the United States has plummeted. And Congress still has no legislation to speak of regarding increasing border security or addressing the root causes of increased encounters at the border and asylum seekers.

Bonus: What’s driving inflation?

While economic inflation is lower now than its been in three years, prices remain higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the debate, Bohannan blamed corporate price gouging for driving up prices. Miller-Meeks blamed COVID-19 relief programs. 

The reality is both were among the forces that drove up prices. But it did lead to this exchange:

Bohannan: (In 2020,) Representative Miller-Meeks supported a lot of the COVID relief funds that we’re talking about.

Miller-Meeks: I wasn’t in Congress.

The line was applauded by Republicans on Twitter as a great moment for Miller-Meeks. Except, it’s not accurate: she did support two rounds of COVID relief funds in Congress on that very stage. 

In September 2020, Miller-Meeks was in a congressional debate with Democrat Rita Hart. She praised Congress’ vote on the first COVID stimulus package. And said even more federal aid was needed.

“The second relief package is also necessary,” Miller-Meeks said. “I think it does need to continue to cover unemployment for those people who have not been able to go back to work or whose jobs have ended.”