Sand: AG is ‘playing politics’ over Plan B payments
Pause has been in effect during entirety of review
State Auditor Rob Sand is accusing Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird of playing politics by freezing payments for sexual assault victims’ morning after pills, saying she is hiding behind an audit to avoid accountability for her decision.
Sand, the sole Democrat in state office, criticized Bird, a Republican, for pausing those payments while her office conducts a review of victim services, which has been ongoing since she took office more than a year ago. In particular, Sand took issue with use of the term “audit” during his news conference Wednesday.
“The attorney general’s choice of word on this helps her avoid accountability for her decision on day one in office to quit paying for emergency contraception for sexual assault survivors,” Sand told reporters at the Capitol.
Under the former Attorney General Tom Miller, who was defeated by Bird while seeking his 11th term in office, the state had covered the cost of emergency contraceptives and, in rare cases, abortions for sexual assault victims through the state’s victim compensation fund. The fund uses fines and penalties paid by individuals convicted of crimes, and does not use any general taxpayer dollars.
Bird, a staunch abortion opponent, paused those payments while her office conducted a “top-down, bottomup audit of victim assistance” to evaluate whether the policy is “an appropriate use of public funds,” Bird’s Communications Director Alyssa Brouillet has said.
“The state auditor and Planned Parenthood are flat wrong,” Brouillet said in a statement Wednesday. “It is a shame that the auditor is playing politics with a critical audit of victim services and blasting misinformation to boost his own profile. We will publicly release the report once it is final.”
The attorney general’s office confirmed to the Register last week it has a submitted draft of its victim services review, and the report is in its “final stages.” However, officials declined to provide the draft as part of the Register’s submitted public records request.
Brouillet wouldn’t elaborate Wednesday on the draft report, saying instead that officials are still compiling materials and that the office will release the report to the public when it is complete. “We are in the final stages of the audit, and will be publicly releasing the report as soon as it is final,” she said in an email.
Bird has remained firm in her decision to pause those payments
while her office conducts the audit, even as victim services advocates have expressed concern on the potential impact on victims. “The trauma and the pain the attorney general’s decision is putting victims through in this case literally makes my skin crawl,” Sand said Wednesday.
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa denounced the move in a recent statement, calling it “deplorable.”
The attorney general’s office’s use of the term “audit” has led to questions on whether the state auditor’s office is involved, Sand said. He said Bird has never asked his office to audit payments for sexual assault victim’s emergency contraception, and there is no other party involved. He said an “internal review” is a more accurate characterization for the attorney general’s inquiry.
Sand said governments, school districts or other agencies undergoing an audit typically do not pause funding or otherwise stop ongoing operations during their annual audits. And given the small amount of funding used to cover the cost for morning after pills, he said there’s not a high risk for fraud or misspent funds within that program.
“There’s been no suggestion whatsoever, that there was anything inappropriate going on in the decades that Attorney General Miller was providing reimbursements for sexual assault survivors use of emergency contraception,” he said.
Sand added, “At this point to me, it’s abundantly clear that whatever is going on over there is politics.”