Iowa House lawmakers push forward the state attorney general’s proposal to amend the state constitution to limit the right of an accused to confront child witnesses.
The amendment would apply to children under the age of 18 and witnesses with developmental disabilities, intellectual disabilities, or mental illnesses.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird’s amendment to the Iowa constitution would allow children to testify against their alleged abusers via a closed-circuit video.
Bird brought the amendment after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in June 2024 via State v. White that allowing child witnesses to testify through a one-way closed-circuit television system violates a defendant’s confrontation rights under the Iowa Constitution.
The amendment advanced by Iowa lawmakers Tuesday would reverse this decision. To make an amendment in the state constitution, Senate Study Bill 1057 will need to be approved by both chambers and be considered and approved by an additional general assembly separated by an election before going to the public for ratification.
Iowa advocates spoke for the need to protect children who have already experienced trauma.
Blank Children’s Hospital registered in favor of the amendment. Cheney Yeast, the hospital’s director of government relations, said children who experience sexual abuse endure lifelong mental health consequences, which could be worsened by having to face their abuser in court.
“Child sexual abuse statistics tell us it’s likely someone the child knows and trusts and loves, and it creates an unimaginable dynamic that we’re expecting the child to navigate during the court proceedings,” she said.
Yeast said she understands concerns that the language of the amendment is too broad, but the fact that there are other types of court cases should weigh into the language, such as homicide.
Laura Christensen, a forensic interviewer at Blank Children’s Hospital STAR Center, works with children who have experienced abuse and said she supports the amendment. The STAR Center is a comprehensive clinic meant to provide both short- and long-term care for children who have experienced trauma.
Christensen said she has conducted over 1,600 forensic interviews, collecting information about the investigations for the state Department of Health and Human Services and law enforcement.
“Often, I listen to children detail the fears. Not only are we talking about the abuse, but they talk about the fear — the fear of the person doing the abuse, the fear of what’s going to happen when they disclose, the fear of their lives being turned upside down,” Christensen said. “Oftentimes, children will talk about the fear with just as much detail as the abuse itself.”
She said the fear is not only about reporting the abuse but about what’s going to happen next and going through the court processes.
“Sitting in front of the person who has abused them is only going to exacerbate the mental health of children,” she said.
Christensen said having children sit in front of the person who abused them in court can impact disclosure rates, and she worries it prevents children from disclosing and reporting abuse. She said children who have already started the disclosure process will recant or take back their statements because it’s not worth sitting in front of the person who caused them harm.
Family advocate at the STAR Center, Wendy Berkey, meets with parents who bring their children to the center after abuse has occurred to the child.
Berkey said she habitually witnesses parents opt not to go through with the court process because they do not want to put their child through additional stress or trauma.
“I fear that this choice is really only an illusion and that parents will increasingly make the only real protective choice that they have by avoiding the court process altogether for the fear of the lifelong, lasting impact it’s going to have on their child,” Berkey said.
Amy Campbell, a lobbyist for the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, registered in favor of the amendment. Campbell recommended including protections for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities with the same cognitive function as a child.
She pointed to the staggering statistics that more than 90 percent of all people with developmental disabilities will experience sexual assault. Campbell said it is important to include those individuals in the legislation.
RELATED: Iowa Supreme Court hears oral arguments for alleged UIHC illicit insemination case
The Iowa Association for Justice registered opposed to the bill, and lobbyist Lisa Cook Davis said this is due to concern about the broadness of the bill.
Davis said the organization does not oppose one-way communication but has concerns that the term mental illness is very broad, as is the language that states the “right of the accused may be limited by law.”
Nathan Mundy, an attorney who spoke for the Iowa Association for Justice, echoed Davis and said the amendment does not restrict either what type of case it would apply to or what type of witness it applies to.
“That’s why it will not pass federal constitutional muster,” Mundy said. “We wish the White decision wouldn’t have happened because that gave us the out, and that was kind of the compromise that we had. But here we are, and we’re willing to work on a different solution to this. But this amendment, as it is, is way too broad, because it’s not limited enough.”
Iowa Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, also expressed concern over the broadness of the language, specifically the use of “may be” rather than “shall be.”
The panel of lawmakers advanced the bill, and it will be considered by the full Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee.