DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican lawmakers have given preliminary approval to prohibiting Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding for sex education.
GOP-led legislative committees approved budget legislation Thursday that would add disqualifying language for federal grants aimed at sexual health education to Iowa youth.

The state administers the grants, and the proposed language says recipients of the money can’t provide abortions, maintain or operate a facility where abortions are performed, or regularly make referrals to entities linked to abortions.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, the local affiliate, says it’s been awarded these grants repeatedly. The federal money isn’t used for abortions. A Planned Parenthood spokeswoman called the move a “targeted attack.” It comes one day after the Republican-controlled Legislature passed a bill that would ban most abortions around six weeks of pregnancy. The abortion ban will likely be challenged in court if signed into law by anti-abortion GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds.