DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa attorney general’s office said it is still working on an audit of its victim services that has held up emergency contraception funding for victims of sexual assault.
Attorney General Brenna Bird, a Republican, paused the funding while awaiting the results of the audit to decide whether to continue those payments. Her office said the audit, which Bird announced when she took office 14 months ago, is in its “final stages” and that a report would be released soon.
The policy under her Democratic predecessor, Tom Miller, had been to partially cover the cost of contraception for sexual assault victims. In rare cases, the cost of abortion for sexual assault victims was also covered, Miller’s victim assistance division director, Sandi Tibbetts Murphy, told the Des Moines Register last year.
“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,” said Alyssa Brouillet, Bird's communications director. "Until that review is complete, payment of these pending claims will be delayed.”
FILE - Iowa Republican Attorney General candidate Brenna Bird speaks during a Republican Party of Iowa election night rally, Nov. 8, 2022, in Des Moines, Iowa. The Iowa attorney general’s office said it is still working on an audit of its victim services that has held up emergency contraception funding for victims of sexual assault despite having a completed draft in hand. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
The Register filed an open records request into the audit in October. After five months, Bird’s office completed the records request but declined to release any documents to the Register, citing a section of Iowa Code excluding preliminary documents from public records law.
Federal and state law requires medical examination costs for victims of sexual assault are covered to ensure forensic evidence is collected readily and properly. In Iowa, costs are covered by the attorney general office’s crime victim compensation program, which is funded by state and federal criminal fines and penalties.
Materials from Miller’s administration show the costs for victims’ prescriptions for oral contraceptives and the Plan-B morning-after pill, as well as for the prevention or treatment of sexually transmitted infections, were reimbursed at 75%.
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa said in a statement that the audit is being used to justify the termination of payments.
“It’s absolutely deplorable that sexual assault survivors in Iowa have gone more than a year without state-covered emergency contraceptives — all because of politics,” said Mazie Stilwell, director of public affairs.
Bird campaigned to replace the 10-term Miller highlighting her opposition to abortion and her commitment to defending Iowa’s restrictive abortion law, which she will do again during oral arguments before the state Supreme Court in April. The law, currently on hold, would ban most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy if it is upheld.
Bird's office said the crime victim compensation fund is being used to cover costs of sexual assault examinations, as well as rape kits and STI tests.
This story has been corrected to remove reference to a completed draft of the audit. The Iowa attorney general’s office says work on the audit is continuing.
NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors asked for a September retrial for Harvey Weinstein during a hearing Wednesday in Manhattan, the disgraced movie mogul's first court appearance since his 2020 rape conviction was overturned by an appeals court last week.
One of Weinstein’s accusers, Jessica Mann, was in the courtroom Wednesday and is prepared to testify again, Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg told the judge.
The former actor wants everyone to know that the defendant “may have power” but “she has the truth,” she said.
“We believe in this case and will be retrying this case,” Blumberg added.
Judge Curtis Farber set a May 29 pretrial court date, with the aim of going to trial some time after Labor Day.
Weinstein, wearing a navy blue suit, was seated in a wheelchair and didn’t address the court but smiled and shook hands with supporters in the gallery.
The 72-year-old, who has cardiac issues and diabetes, has been in a hospital since his return to the city jail system Friday from an upstate prison.
In court, his attorney, Arthur Aidala, said he has no concern about his client’s mental abilities, describing Weinstein as “sharp as a tack. As sharp as he ever was.”
Aidala said his client wants to prove his innocence: “It’s a new trial, it’s a new day and his life is on the line.”
In the New York case that is now overturned, Weinstein was convicted of rape in the third degree for an attack on aspiring actor Mann in 2013 and of forcing himself on a TV and film production assistant, Mimi Haley, in 2006. Weinstein had pleaded not guilty and maintained any sexual activity was consensual.
The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as Haley and Mann have.
Speaking after the hearing, Haley's lawyer, Gloria Allred, said her client still hasn't decided whether she wants to testify at the retrial, noting that doing so at the original trial was traumatizing and painful. Haley was not in court Wednesday, Allred said.
Weinstein was also convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and is still sentenced to 16 years in prison in California. But he remains in custody in New York and will head back to Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital, where he is expected to remain, Aidala said.
“He’s in constant pain that he’s fighting through,” the attorney said outside the courthouse, adding that Weinstein has nevertheless been reading avidly behind bars, including a book on Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt.
“Harvey Weinstein was used to drinking champagne and eating caviar, and now he’s at the commissary paying for potato chips and M&Ms," Aidala said. “He’s keeping his chin up, making the best of a horrible situation.”
On Thursday, the New York Court of Appeals vacated his conviction in a 4-3 decision, erasing his 23-year prison sentence, after concluding a trial judge permitted jurors to see and hear too much evidence not directly related to what he was charged with.
The ruling shocked and disappointed women who celebrated historic gains during the era of #MeToo, a movement that ushered in a wave of sexual-misconduct claims in Hollywood and beyond.
Associated Press reporter Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
Attorney Gloria Allred works on her laptop outside a Manhattan criminal courtroom, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in New York. Harvey Weinstein is due back in a New York courtroom for the first time since his 2020 rape conviction was overturned by an appeals court last week. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Harvey Weinstein appears at Manhattan criminal court for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 in New York. Weinstein made first appearance since his 2020 rape conviction was overturned by an appeals court last week. (David Dee Delgado/Pool Photo via AP)
Harvey Weinstein appears at Manhattan criminal court for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 in New York. Weinstein made first appearance since his 2020 rape conviction was overturned by an appeals court last week. (David Dee Delgado/Pool Photo via AP)
Harvey Weinstein appears at Manhattan criminal court for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 in New York. Weinstein made first appearance since his 2020 rape conviction was overturned by an appeals court last week. (David Dee Delgado/Pool Photo via AP)
Harvey Weinstein appears at Manhattan criminal court for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 in New York. Weinstein made first appearance since his 2020 rape conviction was overturned by an appeals court last week. (David Dee Delgado/Pool Photo via AP)
Harvey Weinstein appears at Manhattan criminal court for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 in New York. Weinstein made first appearance since his 2020 rape conviction was overturned by an appeals court last week. (David Dee Delgado/Pool Photo via AP)
FILE - Harvey Weinstein arrives at a Manhattan courthouse as jury deliberations continue in his rape trial in New York, on Feb. 24, 2020. Weinstein will appear in a New York City court on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
