Why go to the Iowa Prayer for Life Rally?

Guiding Star Siouxland was founded in 2016 on the principle that life begins at conception and continues until natural death. Iowa has succeeded in many ways to uphold these values, but abortion continues to happen here.

Yes, abortion happens in Sioux County.

That is why executive director Kaleigh Van Middendorp and marketing and outreach director Renee Wielenga attended the Iowa Pray for Life Rally on Monday, Jan. 27, at the capitol building in Des Moines.

Our first priority was to be able to pray with others, including Gov. Kim Reynolds, regarding building a Culture of Life.

Reynolds in her address to the about the repeal of Roe v Wade and the Iowa law she signed in August that bans most abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy. Reynolds signed the law twice, in 2018 and 2023, but it wasn’t until last summer that the Iowa Supreme Court turned back lawsuits and declared the law constitutional.

“In this environment, some say that defending life is too hard, that our only option is to abandon our principles and give up the fight but Iowa’s own experience proves that theory wrong,” Reynolds said. “We’ve repeatedly won that debate at the ballot box.”

A second priority was to talk with other similar organizations across the state, hearing about their work and sharing about ours so we can continue to build that network of support. It was a blessing to share a booth with our “sister center”, Guiding Star Cedar Valley, as we link arms to support the variety of patients we serve throughout Iowa.

Third, we were able to talk to Rep. Skyler Wheeler and others present about our desire to repeal the certificate of need, or CON. A big misconception is that repealing CON will decrease access to care in rural areas. However, a large and growing body of research shows that patients in states with CON laws have less access to health care than patients in states without CON, including those in rural areas.

We look forward to continue working toward this repeal and building up or eduactional and medical services to help Build a Culture of Life in Siouxland!

Guiding Star Siouxland is a women’s health and wellness center located at 111 Arizona Ave. NW in Orange City, IA. Since 2016 we’ve been serving Northwest Iowa through our four pillars of care that emphasize pro-life medical and educational services.