Gotta make up some reason not to pay, I guess:
A long-awaited Iowa attorney general's audit of victim services — blamed for a year-long pause on payments for sexual assault victims' emergency contraceptives and abortions — is hung up with "senior staff" who haven't signed off on its release, the Register has learned.
In response to an open records request the Register filed last October, the Attorney General's Office confirmed it has a completed draft of the victim services audit in hand.
However, the office declined to release those findings, stating the office's top staff have determined the report still has not reached the final stages and requires additional "collaboration and work." The office cited a section of Iowa Code excluding preliminary documents from public records law.
It's unclear when the victim services report will be released publicly.
Iowa's attorney general, Brenna Bird, has cited the ongoing review as justification for putting on hold the office's longstanding practice to pay for morning-after pills and, in rare cases, abortions for victims of sexual assault.
Over the past year, Bird has said she would make a decision on those payments — which have been on hold since Jan. 1, 2023 — once the audit of the victim services division is complete.
Bird, who is a staunch abortion opponent, has remained steadfast in that decision even as opponents have denounced the move and as sexual assault nurse examiners and victim advocates have called for an end to the pause.
"While not required by Iowa law, the victim compensation fund has previously paid for Plan B and abortions," Bird's press secretary, Alyssa Brouillet, said in a statement. "As a part of her top-down, bottom-up audit of victim assistance, Attorney General Bird is carefully evaluating whether this is an appropriate use of public funds. That audit is ongoing. Until that review is complete, payment of these pending claims will be delayed."
Some victim care providers say the longer the payments are halted, the less optimistic they remain that funding will ever be reinstated.
A long-awaited Iowa attorney general's audit of victim services — blamed for a year-long pause on payments for sexual assault victims' emergency contraceptives and abortions — is hung up with "senior staff" who haven't signed off on its release, the Register has learned.
In response to an open records request the Register filed last October, the Attorney General's Office confirmed it has a completed draft of the victim services audit in hand.
However, the office declined to release those findings, stating the office's top staff have determined the report still has not reached the final stages and requires additional "collaboration and work." The office cited a section of Iowa Code excluding preliminary documents from public records law.
It's unclear when the victim services report will be released publicly.
Iowa's attorney general, Brenna Bird, has cited the ongoing review as justification for putting on hold the office's longstanding practice to pay for morning-after pills and, in rare cases, abortions for victims of sexual assault.
Over the past year, Bird has said she would make a decision on those payments — which have been on hold since Jan. 1, 2023 — once the audit of the victim services division is complete.
Bird, who is a staunch abortion opponent, has remained steadfast in that decision even as opponents have denounced the move and as sexual assault nurse examiners and victim advocates have called for an end to the pause.
"While not required by Iowa law, the victim compensation fund has previously paid for Plan B and abortions," Bird's press secretary, Alyssa Brouillet, said in a statement. "As a part of her top-down, bottom-up audit of victim assistance, Attorney General Bird is carefully evaluating whether this is an appropriate use of public funds. That audit is ongoing. Until that review is complete, payment of these pending claims will be delayed."
Some victim care providers say the longer the payments are halted, the less optimistic they remain that funding will ever be reinstated.
Will Iowa pay for rape victims’ emergency contraceptives? AG’s audit not ready for release
Iowa AG Brenna Bird's audit of victim services is not yet finished. The pause on compensation for rape victims' morning-after pills remains in effect.
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