Iowa Democrat congressional candidate Sarah Trone Garriott declined to identify a point at which she believes abortion becomes murder or a specific circumstance in which lawmakers should intervene to prevent minors from receiving puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or gender-transition surgeries during a recent interview.
Trone Garriott, a Lutheran minister and Iowa state senator challenging Republican Rep. Zach Nunn in the Third Congressional District, was asked why she voted against legislation prohibiting puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for people under 18. She responded that health care decisions should “center parents and physicians,” arguing the legislation would take “away a parent’s voice” by asserting that “politicians know better for all people under 18.”
The interviewer followed up directly, asking if there was “any point” at which the state should intervene when parents seek to transition their children or provide them puberty blockers or surgeries, and specifically asked, “What point should lawmakers step in in there?” Trone Garriott did not identify a particular age, procedure, or circumstance tied specifically to gender transition, instead saying, “The state has a role if a parent is being abusive,” and that government also has a role in ensuring physicians follow “best medical practice and prevailing guidelines.”
Trone Garriott went on to argue that lawmakers should not decide they “know better than parents,” medical associations, or physicians, saying legislators “are not the experts on those issues.” She then shifted to other subjects, including Iowa water quality, the state budget, and oversight of children in state care, saying, “There’s a lot of opportunities to protect kids that we’re not pursuing.”
The interview later turned to abortion, with the interviewer asking Trone Garriott if there is a point at which, based on her Christian faith, “a life becomes a life” and if there is a point after which she believes “abortion is murder.” Trone Garriott did not provide a gestational point or otherwise directly answer the question, instead saying that when someone seeks an abortion later in pregnancy, “it’s because something has gone terribly wrong, and it is a health emergency.”
“I want to give patients the respect to, you know, work with their physicians to decide what is the best care for them in challenging circumstances,” Trone Garriott continued. She argued that when lawmakers attempt to regulate what happens “in the exam room,” they can create situations in which “real harm can come.”
In a third portion of the interview, Trone Garriott again argued that decisions involving “controversial issues like abortion care” should be made by “physicians and patients,” rather than politicians. She recalled being at the Iowa State Capitol during an earlier effort to prohibit abortion after detection of a fetal heartbeat and said she asked her state senator what would happen to a woman experiencing an ectopic pregnancy.
According to Trone Garriott, the senator responded, “What’s that?” She described ectopic pregnancy as “one of the most common complications that happens in pregnancy” and said it is “life-threatening” and “requires abortion care.” She argued that lawmakers who do not sufficiently understand such issues should not be “telling people when and how they can get health care.”
When the interviewer then asked whether she would support a six-week restriction if it included an exception for ectopic pregnancies, Trone Garriott again did not give a yes-or-no answer. Instead, she said that under Iowa’s current abortion law, “hospital systems are terrified” and “lawyers are making the decisions, not doctors,” adding that physicians should be making those determinations.
Trone Garriott further claimed Iowa’s law “doesn’t use accurate medical terminology” and “doesn’t actually work in the real world.” She said people “in the process of miscarrying” are not receiving care quickly enough because providers fear being “targeted” or getting “in trouble with this law.” She did not identify a hospital system, physician, lawyer, or specific patient case in the interview excerpt to substantiate those claims.
House File 732, which Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) approved on July 14, 2023, defines an “abortion” as “the termination of a human pregnancy with the intent other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus.” The law prohibits abortion after detection of a fetal heartbeat except in cases involving a “medical emergency” or one of several specified fetal-heartbeat exceptions, including certain pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, miscarriage, and a fetal abnormality deemed incompatible with life.
Bridgehaven Pregnancy Support Center states that “an ectopic pregnancy removal is not considered an abortion” and that “there are no abortion laws that would prohibit women from receiving care for ectopic pregnancies.” The organization specifically points to Iowa law’s exception for medical emergencies and states that a woman “will not be legally charged” for receiving treatment for an ectopic pregnancy in Iowa.
The Iowa Catholic Conference similarly states that treatment of an ectopic pregnancy “is not prevented by the law in Iowa,” describing removal of the embryo in such a case as “life-saving treatment.” The organization argues that claims to the contrary can “confuse women and potentially cause critical delays in care.”
House File 732 also expressly provides that the prohibition “shall not be construed to impose civil or criminal liability on a woman” upon whom an abortion is performed in violation of the law. The legislation was deemed “of immediate importance” and took effect upon enactment, with Reynolds signing it July 14, 2023.
The questions about procedures for minors also follow Trone Garriott’s Iowa Senate voting record. Breitbart News previously reported that she voted against legislation prohibiting gender-transition procedures for minors, including puberty blockers and surgical procedures, while also voting against legislation preventing biological males from competing in girls’ sports and requiring students to use school bathrooms corresponding with their biological sex. In May, when questioned separately about her co-sponsorship of legislation that would begin sex-education instruction in kindergarten, she did not answer questions about “why” she backed the proposal.
Trone Garriott also opposed legislation restricting instruction about gender identity for students in kindergarten through sixth grade and opposed Iowa’s SF496, which requires schools to notify parents if a child adopts a different name or pronouns at school, restricts LGBTQ-related topics in K-6 classrooms, and prohibits books depicting sex acts from public schools. She has shared an article titled the “Catholic Case for Choosing Your Own Pronouns,” calling it “thoughtful and faithful reflections.”
Her record on transgender-related issues extends outside the legislature. In a 2020 social media post recognizing Transgender Day of Remembrance, Trone Garriott wrote that transgender people “experience a high rate of food insecurity” and “may not feel safe seeking assistance from food pantries.” She later marked Transgender Day of Visibility, including in 2023 when she expressed gratitude for Iowans “of all ages,” and in 2024, when the observance fell on Easter, she cited Mark 16:1–8.
During a 2023 speech about what she called “Christian nationalism,” Trone Garriott described the LGBTQ movement as challenging “the way that things have been, of who’s a man and who’s woman and how relationships are,” and said the movement is “very threatening to the idea of the white male, powerful figure” because it “muddies the waters and makes things ambiguous and confusing.” She also argued that legislation involving girls’ sports and transgender procedures reflected an idea that “white men are responsible to protect women from threats” and sought to protect “feminine, fragile, weak women and girls.”
Trone Garriott delivered a 2021 sermon for Downtown Disciples, which describes itself as an “unapologetically progressive Christian community,” “LGBTQIA+ affirming,” and supportive of “#BlackLivesMatter.” The group hosts a “Queer and Christian Book Club,” operates child and youth ministries, promotes an “all-ages” Iowa Trans Lives Festival, and lists a partnership with the Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund, which provides grants for “gender-affirming care” without listing an age restriction.
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