Candidates owe Iowans plans to improve OB/GYN availability
CHI Health has announced it will close its labor and delivery unit in Council Bluffs. In just the past several months, maternity services have also disappeared in Clinton and Fort Madison. Each announcement has followed a familiar pattern of disappointment, concern, and promises to support affected patients. Yet, meaningful action rarely follows. The cycle repeats when the next community loses obstetric care.
As candidates cross the state asking voters for their support in 2026, I have a simple question: What is your plan for women’s healthcare? Don’t tell us your talking points or campaign slogan. We need to hear your plan.
If elected officials believe strong families are the foundation of strong Iowan communities, then they must recognize that those communities cannot thrive without access to obstetric and gynecologic care. Every labor and delivery unit that closes means longer drives for women in labor, fewer opportunities for prenatal care, more strain on neighboring hospitals, and greater pressure on the physicians still caring for Iowa’s women.
For years, physicians have warned that Iowa’s OB/GYN workforce is shrinking faster than it can be replaced. We have met with legislators, testified before committees, shared workforce data, and proposed solutions. Despite those efforts, each year the crisis deepens.
Whether you are a Republican, Democrat, or independent: every Iowan deserves access to safe pregnancy care, emergency obstetric services, and routine gynecologic care. Every community deserves the opportunity to recruit physicians and keep young families. Every elected official should want Iowa to be a state where physicians choose to build their careers rather than one they choose to leave.
I challenge every candidate running for office and every elected official already serving to tell Iowans what you will do.
Will you support policies that recruit and retain OB/GYN physicians? Will you invest in residency training? Will you address the financial pressures threatening maternity care? Will you work with physicians instead of talking about us? Simply expressing disappointment after another hospital closes its labor and delivery unit is no longer enough. The next closure is not a question of “if.” It is a question of “when.”
When it happens, Iowa’s women will not be asking which party was responsible. They will be asking why the people they elected failed to act when the warning signs were impossible to ignore. The time for acknowledging the crisis has passed. The time to solve it is now.
Jennifer Schuchmann, Waukee
Trump and Musk are responsible for mass death
According to Dr. Atul Gawande, former assistant administrator of global health with the U.S. Agency for International Development, it is estimated 700,000 people have died due to the barbaric decision to cut USAID. This all occurred while President Donald Trump made billions off of his presidency and Elon Musk, who is supposedly the richest man on earth and was in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, fired hundreds of people, removed the funds and then fled the scene of the crime.
They should be arrested, charged with genocide, and sentenced to work in a hospital in Africa the rest of their lives.
Am I proud to be an American? Not so much at this time in our history. We claim to be a Christian nation, but this cutting of funds that used to bring life to people has brought death. We need to elect leaders who have a conscience and life-giving values.
The Rev. Denny Coon, Ankeny
Make SNAP fair for all states
Every month, about 250,000 Iowans — nearly one in 12 — rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to put food on the table. They are working parents, grandparents on fixed incomes, veterans, children, and people with disabilities. They are our neighbors.
The reconciliation bill passed last year cut $187 billion from SNAP nationwide, the largest such cut in the program’s history. Iowa will lose more than $1 billion in SNAP funding over the next decade, including $50 million in 2026 alone. Nationally, nearly 3 million people have been forced off the program in the past year, including nearly 25,000 Iowans
For the first time, states will soon be required to pay a share of SNAP benefit costs. Iowa’s low error rate temporarily exempts the state, but Iowa is rated “Recession/At-Risk” — a single economic downturn could change that. Some states have extra time to reduce their error rates before the cost-share takes effect. Other states are already making cruel choices: cut benefits, restrict access, or find money they do not have.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, Sen. Joni Ernst, and Rep. Zach Nunn must oppose any farm bill or other farm legislation that does not delay this cost-shift rule for all states until 2030. It’s only fair.
Benjamin Allen, Des Moines
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Candidates owe Iowans plans to improve OB/GYN availability | Letters
Reporting by The Register’s readers, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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By The Register's readers, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
