A panel of Iowa lawmakers advanced a bill that would define a woman in Iowa code on Tuesday. Despite opposition to the legislation and unanswered questions on the intent behind the bill and what the bill would do, Republicans on the panel remain tight-lipped.
The bill, which consists of one sentence and defines a woman as “an adult female human,” left LGBTQ+ advocates and the lone Democrat Iowa Rep. Sharon Sue Steckman, D-Mason City, wondering the purpose of the bill.
However, the chair of the panel, Iowa Rep. Heather Hora, R-Washington, refused to take questions on the intentions behind the bill, what the bill would do, and why the bill is being brought forward during the hearing.
Iowa Rep. Brooke Boden, R-Indianola, spoke shortly on her support of the bill towards the end of the contentious hearing on Tuesday.
“I think it’s a great bill that we should move forward,” Boden said.
Steckman, the lone Democrat on the panel, said that she saw no purpose for the bill despite Republicans advancing the bill.
“I’ve seen no reason to even have this bill,” Steckman said. “I have so many questions about this.”
Amber Williams, an Iowa resident who spoke in support of the bill on Tuesday, said she was in support of the bill because most definitions of a woman are “circular.”
“God has made the definition of a woman clear through both special relations, scripture, and general revelation creation,” Williams said. “He made her, then made him. Male and female he created them.”
Keenan Crow, a lobbyist with One Iowa a nonprofit focused on improving the lives of LGBTQ+ Iowans, said the current Iowa code already stipulates the definition of women based on their birth certificate and that adding this definition would likely complicate Iowa code.
“Let’s scrap this bill and let the existing laws take care of people who we all agree are women and not exclude someone, someone who might be in this room, someone who might be at this table, or all we know, simply because we want to force things that are reality quite complex to seem simple,” Crow said.
