- Jason Benell of Des Moines is president of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers.
Over the past dozen or so years, in the state of Iowa we have seen a new assault on the rights of its citizens that have put the future of our state in a precarious situation. It seems every other week there are reports and new sets of statistics tarnishing what was once a sterling record for Iowa on the well-being of its citizens.
We have seen Iowa lose its destination status for those looking for an excellent public education as well as a dearth of coverage for mental health care. Iowa now ranks the worst in OBGYN coverage per capita in the US and is consistently cited as an example of what not to do when it comes to stewardship of our waterways. On top of these dire statistics, we are also seeing unprecedented assaults on the civil liberties of Iowans from banning books (and earning a slew of wasteful and costly lawsuits because of it) to banning transgender Iowans from participating in sports to restricting the right to privacy and health care for half of the state’s population.