DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced plans Friday to improve victim services in Iowa following an extensive audit.
“Serving victims is one of the main reasons why I ran for Attorney General," Bird said in a statement. "And it is why on day one, I set out to make real changes to ensure victims receive the justice and support they deserve. I am so glad to announce that through this audit, we not only identified the problems within the victim services system, but we created solutions to more effectively serve victims."
During the audit, Bird determined "victims service were not a priority" prior to her taking office, according to a report. Bird's office noted several issues with the state of victims services, including problems with recordkeeping, notification systems, training protocols and compensation for nurses.
As a result of the audit, Bird's office has already implemented several changes to victim services, including:
- Giving prosecutors the ability to track sexual assault evidence collection kits
- Providing expanded training to Victim Assistance staff
- Improving customer service by addressing "rude or unfriendly" employees
- Making fiancées of homicide victims eligible for crime-victim compensation under Victim Assistance
The report reads in part:
"The Attorney General agrees that emergency contraception intended to prevent pregnancy should be reimbursed. Victim Assistance will therefore continue to reimburse the cost of emergency contraception furnished to sexual-assault victims if the prescribing provider, as part of the reimbursement application, certifies that the prescription was to prevent ovulation and not to prevent implantation of an embryo."
The newly released results come more than a year after Bird's office paused funding of emergency contraception for victims of sexual assault back in April 2023.
"As a part of her top-down, bottom-up audit of victim assistance, Attorney General Bird is carefully evaluating whether this is an appropriate use of public funds," a spokesperson for Bird said in a statement at the time. “Until that review is complete, payment of these pending claims will be delayed.”
Notably, the Iowa Attorney General's office will continue to pay for victims' emergency contraceptives, as well as medical examinations, STI tests and other services. However, the office will not cover abortions.
Rep. Lindsey James, D-Dubuque, issued a statement on behalf of Iowa House Democrats regarding the audit, writing in part, "After denying victims of sexual assault access to contraception and abortion care for over a year, the decisions she made today is still about politics, not victims. Iowans overwhelmingly support reproductive freedom and politicians have no place interfering in someone else’s medical decisions, especially survivors of sexual assault."
Iowa Auditor Rob Sand, another Democrat, said the following in a statement:
"For a year, Iowa’s Attorney General inflicted even more trauma on rape victims just for politics. We know because her report doesn’t provide a single legal or financial reason to have withheld payments for emergency contraception."
For an overview of the victim services audit, click here.