Gov. Kim Reynolds signed 13 bills into law Tuesday — including several that could impact Iowans’ access to reproductive healthcare.
House File 2788, the final bill debated in the Iowa Senate during the 2026 legislative session, is a measure restricting access to abortion-inducing medications through telehealth and mail-order prescription services. Under the new law, these medications, such as mifepristone, will have to be prescribed in person.
The law, which will officially take effect July 1, comes amid a national discussion on access to mifepristone, which is used to terminate pregnancies before 10 weeks and to treat miscarriages, via telehealth services. Mail-order and telehealth prescriptions for the abortion-inducing drug were temporarily restricted following a U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in early May in the federal lawsuit Louisiana v. Food and Drug Administration. The appeals court decision blocked an 2023 FDA rule allowing the drug to be prescribed and dispensed without an in-person visit with a healthcare provider.
The U.S. Supreme Court decided last week to let telehealth access to abortion medication continue under the current FDA rules as the lawsuit proceeds.
The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision is not expected to affect the enforcement of Iowa’s restriction on mail-order and telehealth prescription for these drugs. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 28 states have restrictions on abortion-inducing medications in place.
During debate on the measure, Republican state lawmakers said requiring in-person visits for prescribing these medications will ensure women’s safety by stopping “black market” abortion medications from entering the state. But Democrats and reproductive healthcare advocates said the law is a means for further restricting abortion access, and will make it extremely difficult for people in rural areas to access healthcare, particularly in areas of Iowa which face maternal and OB-GYN healthcare shortages.
Another bill Reynolds signed Tuesday was Senate File 304, which removes a current carveout in Iowa law that had allowed minors to access vaccines related to sexually transmitted diseases and infections without their guardians’ permission. Parental consent is necessary for Iowans under age 18 to receive vaccinations in a majority of cases — but previously, the law allowed minors to independently consent to receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis B vaccines.
GOP lawmakers said the measure will bring state requirements for these vaccines in line with regulations on other vaccines, but Democrats said the exception in law was to specifically help children protect their health when in a situation where they cannot talk to their guardian about sexual activity, or in cases potentially involving sexual abuse.
