For decades, birth control has been a cornerstone of freedom. And that freedom doesn’t only apply to straight, cisgender women. Max Mowitz, a gender-affirming care doula who is also training to be a birth and postpartum doula, said birth control does a number of...
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt and her husband Andy Schutt, both Des Moines residents, always knew they wanted to have children. When Lyndi was 30, they started trying. But as the months passed without a positive pregnancy test, the couple became frustrated and...
The Iowa Supreme Court Thursday heard arguments concerning the injunction on the near-total abortion ban passed is a special session last summer. Peter Im, staff attorney at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told the justices and reporters in a press...
Abortion saved her life seven years ago and Leah Vanden Bosch is more grateful for it now than ever. Vanden Bosch, who serves as the development and outreach director for the Iowa Abortion Access Fund, said she’s more committed to the work than ever because she’s...
Being an LGBTQ+ student in Iowa right now is hard. Laws police which names and bathrooms students can use, and what words teachers can say in their classrooms. And yet, many told Starting Line their school experiences got better when they found a community of other...
For those unaware, April 6 is New Beer's Eve, because it leads up to National Beer Day on April 7. Why April 7? On that day in 1933, the Cullen-Harrison Act went into effect, making it legal for some low-alcohol beer and wine to be sold in the United States. The...
Two bills affecting Iowans’ reproductive health passed out of the Iowa House Wednesday afternoon and could soon become law. Postpartum Medicaid SF 2251 passed the House 70-25, and it would restrict the number of people who qualify for postpartum Medicaid coverage...
A year ago, Sara Hayden Parris’s garage was packed haphazardly with books, banners, signs, and other supplies for Annie’s Foundation events. Now, because of a generous donation, those days are no more. On March 28, Parris, board members, and supporters came out to...
Birth control of some kind has existed for all of recorded human history, and the ability to change when and how one becomes pregnant has been a cornerstone of women’s rights. “What [birth control] has really done is allowed women to control their destinies, and...
When Dr. Emily Boevers, an OB-GYN in Waverly, first sits down with patients for birth control consultations, she asks them a series of questions about why they want to use it, and for how long. “The thing that I think is really important to keep in mind about...
