Stories

There’s some good news, but there is also bad news in the way some students perceive their safety at Iowa schools.

A last-minute amendment to the health care reform bill that passed the U.S. House on Saturday is disruptive to the current ban on federal funding for abortion services and could lead down a slippery slope that prevents women from accessing services with their own money as well, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin said Tuesday.

A new white paper released by The Iowa Policy Project focuses on the disparities at play when rural residents seek health care insurance.
“[This report] really highlights that the need for health reform that isn’t limited to people who are working outside their home — that it is a big issue for those who are self-employed [...]

Des Moines anti-abortion activist Dave Leach said Monday he was surprised but happy to hear from the media that Scott Roeder would pursue a necessity defense after confessing to the murder of Kansas doctor George Tiller.

A 54-year-old physician from Belle Plain, who allegedly engaged in a pattern of sexual misconduct, has entered into a formal agreement with the Iowa Board of Medicine not to treat patients.
Robert A. Bischoff, was charged in September with sexual misconduct, unprofessional conduct and disruptive behavior in the practice of medicine by the state board. The [...]

Some Des Moines-area Catholics received a little extra information along with their bulletin during services this week: an insert encouraging them to take political action on potential health care reform in Congress.

While the insert is “an example of permissible issue advocacy,” some abortion rights advocates see the action as their own call to arms.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius teamed with U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) on Tuesday to pitch health care reform as one of the few remaining ways to level the playing field for many Americans who reside in rural areas.

Expanding insurance coverage is important, experts say, but that is only half the battle. For many Americans, particularly in rural parts of the country, access to high quality health care services could remain elusive even after insurance becomes available.

Nick Rhoades is the first to admit that he was wrong, and that he deserved reprimand for failing to disclose to an intimate partner that he had tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. What he isn’t sure of, however, is the effectiveness of the decade-old Iowa law with which he was charged.

Although knowledge about HIV has increased in the decade since Iowa wrote its criminal transmission law, the law itself remains untouched. Donald Baxter, who was once almost charged under the law, acknowledges that another decade will bring more knowledge and perhaps changes.