Throughout my personal and professional life, in every way possible, I have tried to assure that women and girls are treated equally and fairly. As an Assistant Attorney General, I drafted the first law in the nation that protected the privacy of rape victims. Often victims told me that cross examination in court was almost as bad as the rape itself. The law I drafted disallowed unfair and irrelevant questioning about the victim's past. It has served as the model for similar laws across the nation.
In the 1970s, teachers and other women workers lost their jobs simply because they were pregnant. I was a 20-something Assistant General Attorney at that time and headed the Iowa Department of Justice's Civil Rights Section. I took a case involving two Cedar Rapids school teachers to the Iowa Supreme Court. Iowa became the first state in the nation to find that discrimination on the basis of pregnancy was illegal and to ensure that women could no longer get fired because they were pregnant. I also tried the first cases involving sex discrimination and sexual harassment under the Iowa statutes and the first case involving the rights of rape victims to recover from third parties who permitted the rape to occur.
I believe in a women's right to reproductive freedom. We must do all we can to prevent unintended pregnancies and abortions should be legal, safe and rare.
Senator Grassley does not support a woman's right to choose and has a 100% rating from the National Right to Life Committee.
Senator Grassley almost never votes to protect women as workers or as consumers. For example, he has voted against requiring companies to cover preventative screenings for women like mammograms. In addition, he has repeatedly voted against legislation intended to make employers treat female employees fairly. Who could disagree with the right of a woman to be paid the same as a man when she is doing exactly the same job in the same conditions for the same employer? Senator Grassley. He has voted twice against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act ensuring women receive equal pay for equal work. He also opposed the bipartisan Family and Medical Leave Act, which permits workers unpaid time off when they or a close family member is ill. I believe people should not lose their job to care for a sick or injured loved one but Senator Grassley voted against this protection for workers.
In January 2009, the House approved the Paycheck Fairness Act, a measure that would help close the yawning pay gap between men and women which still exists by, among other things, making stronger remedies available under the existing Equal Pay Act, protecting employees from retaliation, and ensuring that courts require employers to show that wage disparities are job-related, not sex-based, and consistent with business needs. It is time for the Senate to stop dawdling and approve this much needed law.
As a United States Senator, I will continue to work for equal rights for everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, age, religion, sexual orientation or condition of disability as I have done in both the public and private practice of law for four decades.
Iowa is one of only two states that has never elected a woman to the U.S. Congress or as Governor. The only other state with that unfortunate record is Mississippi. I hope we can break that glass ceiling in this race.
