Female Turnout in Iowa Looks Risky for Joni Ernst
Abortion and Birth Control
Ernst reaffirmed her commitment to the bill during the Oct 11 debate, but said she would support an exception to save the life of a mother. She also explained that she supported birth control, although she didn’t specify what forms. Some women who use intrauterine devices, which prevent blastocysts from implanting in uterine walls, feared that Ernst’s “personhood” bill would prohibit these devices.
Raising the federal minimum wage is another hot button issue in the fight for uncommitted voters. Like Harkin, the leading champion of raising the minimum wage in the Senate, Braley supports an increase to $10.10 an hour. Braley predicts that the raise would increase the wages of 306,000 low-income Iowans, 57.percent of them women.
Ernst favors keeping the wage at $7.25 an hour because it would give high school students work experience. In 2013, 24 percent of minimum wage workers in the U.S. were between 16 to 19 years old, a Pew Research poll found.
As she tries to win undecided voters, Ernst has adopted a more moderate tone on issues such as abortion and repeal of the Affordable Care Act and is softening her image in ads.