Rachel Bruns is a maternal health advocate in Iowa.

Earlier this year, I wrote a three-part series for the Des Moines Business Record’s Fearless publication titled “From Personal Experience to Policy Change: Fighting for Improvements in Maternal Health Care in Iowa.” 

With that series, I was excited to highlight, in part 1, promising practices at hospitals across the country that were making positive improvements in maternal health care – improving both patient satisfaction and outcomes. In part 2, I highlighted ongoing policy issues impacting maternal health, and in part 3, I examined the consequences of mistrust in medicine.

While I have had to step back from my engagement on maternal health advocacy, I am still paying attention, and there is a lot to pay attention to.

Rachel Bruns is a volunteer advocate for quality maternal health care in Iowa.

With the Iowa legislative session beginning January 13, it is time for a rundown of important maternal health policies that should become priorities for state lawmakers in 2025.

Since I am focusing on access to midwifery care, it is worth noting that in October 2024 the World Health Organization issued a new position paper on “Transitioning to Midwifery Models of Care.” That paper offers an international definition by describing the guiding principles of midwifery models of care and reviewing the advantages of adopting them. 

According to the World Health Organization’s position paper, 

Megan Day Suhr announced this week that she is running for Iowa House district 28 in 2012. A map of the swing district and background on Suhr are after the jump.

I’m late getting my calendar up this week. As always, please post a comment or send me an e-mail if you know of a public event worth mentioning here.

Various advocacy organizations continue to hold lobby days at the state capitol as the first “funnel” deadline for legislation approaches. The Department of Natural Resources is holding public meetings around the state this month to discuss air and water quality issues. Also, the sixth annual Iowa Governors Conference on LGBTQ Youth takes place on February 24. Details on those events and more are after the jump.