UGSDW Stands Against Iowa Abortion Ban

The UGSDW Executive Board Stands Against the New Iowa Six-Week Abortion Ban

GRINNELL, IOWA — The Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers stands unequivocally against the dangerous, authoritarian, and unscientific six-week abortion ban that took effect in Iowa last week. 

The right of all people to exercise self-determination over their bodies and lives is a cornerstone of our fight in the labor movement. Everyone has the right to healthcare. That includes safe, effective and private access to abortion, birth control, reproductive healthcare, and information.

As workers and Iowa residents, many of us will be affected by this encroachment upon our bodies, lives, and freedom. Iowa’s new law will join seventeen other states in banning all or most abortions, and joins a barrage of other anti-trans laws, many of which also seek to eliminate access to life-saving healthcare. This deeply threatening trend endangers all of us.

We call on Grinnell College to provide robust, material support to the Sexual Health and Information Center (SHIC) in the wake of this law’s implementation, and to take immediate action to ensure all employees and community members can access reproductive healthcare. 

We encourage students to seek out the essential resources such as emergency contraception (Plan B), pregnancy testing, and peer education that SHIC student workers help to make available. Other resources include the Iowa Abortion Access Fund and the Chicago Abortion Fund, which have partnered to provide abortion support to Iowa residents. Finally, we must stand up for the people across Iowa and across the country for whom this legislation is tantamount to a death sentence.

When politicians try to strip us of our rights, we keep each other safe. Now is the time to protect, care for, and defend each other’s healths and livelihoods. We will fight to protect these fundamental rights—and we must use all of the tools at our disposal to ensure abortion and reproductive healthcare remain safe and accessible for anybody who wants it.

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The only independent undergraduate labor union in the country, UGSDW fights for fair pay and benefits for all workers at Grinnell College. The union represents over 500 students, or about 30% of the total student population.

Grinnell College is a small, private, liberal arts college located in Grinnell, Iowa.  Founded in 1846, Grinnell has been a consistent leader in social justice issues.  According to its mission statement, the College “aims to graduate individuals who can think clearly, who can speak and write persuasively and even eloquently, who can evaluate critically both their own and others’ ideas, who can acquire new knowledge, and who are prepared in life and work to use their knowledge and their abilities to serve the common good.”