Please write or call Gov. Vilsack and ask him to veto the "fetus death" bill.

The Fetus Death Bill, which makes it a crime as serious as first-degree murder to kill an unborn child, has passed both the Iowa Senate and the Iowa House.  The bill will briefly go back to the Senate due to a technicality, and then will land on the desk of Gov. Tom Vilsack.  It is by no means certain that Gov. Vilsack will veto this bill, which chips away at reproductive rights and mirrors a bill passed recently by the extreme-right-wing-controlled Congress.

Some Democrats in the Iowa Legislature object to the bill on the grounds that it grants legal rights to a fetus - rights that are not granted in any other area.  For example, a fetus cannot get a Social Security number and cannot be deducted on the parents' income tax forms.  Read more about it here.

Email Gov. Vilsack here.

Call the Governor’s Office at (515) 281-5211.

Or write to:

Office of the Governor
State Capitol
Des Moines, IA  50319

Thank you for participating in Democracy.

Gov. Tom Vilsack has a mixed record on reproductive rights

* In 2000, 2001 and 2002, Vilsack vetoed legislation that would have required women be given certain information before having abortions. Two of the bills would have required such information to be provided at least 24 hours in advance.

* In March 2002, Vilsack issued an executive order telling the Department of Public Health to establish a system for distributing health information to women seeking abortions, but without any criminal penalties for doctors who fail to pass the information along.

* In May 2001, Vilsack signed into law a measure prohibiting university student health centers from using state money to provide RU-486, also called mifepristone or the "abortion pill."

From The Des Moines Register, 4/7/04

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First, I'd like to give a shout out to all the new Iowa Meet Up members who are visiting the Blog for Iowa for the first time today.  Welcome!

The results of our first Blog for Iowa poll are in: some 70.5% of the people who voted preferred to have a photo of Howard Dean on the Blog for Iowa site.

I copied this photo of Gov. Dean off of Blog for America back in November, 2003.  The photo was taken by John Pettitt, the official Dean campaign photographer, while Gov. Dean was speaking before a congregation in Harlem at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church on November 23, 2003.

This photo has always been one of my favorites because of the colors and the majesty of the composition.  You may think that I did something to the coloring of this photo because when you click on the link above to see the original, the coloring seems very different.  But I didn't.  When this picture was originally posted on BFA, it had more of a yellowish cast to it--probably why I liked it.

So, I cropped the photo and sent it to John Pettitt.  He gave his permission to use the photo.  So, many thanks to John.  You will see his photo credit and a link to his website on the left sidebar.

Also, I'd like to thank Demetrius at People-Powered Graphics, who added the white trim to the photo for me - three different times - as I played around with sizing and placement.  My inadequate software would not let me do it.  That Demetrius is a real gem!