• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds speaks during an event in Des Moines July 28, 2023. Reynolds signed a bill Feb. 28, 2025, that strikes gender identity from the state's civil rights law, making Iowa the first state to remove civil rights from a previously protected class. (OSV News photo/Scott Morgan, Reuters)

New Iowa law defines male and female, removes gender identity protections

March 3, 2025
By Gina Christian
OSV News
Filed Under: News, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Iowa has enacted a law defining “sex” as male or female, with “gender” as a synonym, while removing gender identity protections from its code, making that state the first to do so.

The move follows a Jan. 20 executive order from President Donald Trump for the federal government to recognize human biological sexuality as either male or female.

On Feb. 28, Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the bill into law, which is set to take effect on July 1.

The Iowa law defines “sex” as “the state of being either male or female as observed or clinically verified at birth.” The terms “woman” or “girl” refer to females and the terms “man” or “boy” refer to males.

“Female” is defined as “an individual who has, had, will have through the course of normal development, or would have but for a developmental anomaly, genetic anomaly, or accident, a reproductive system that at some point produces ova.”

Similarly, the law defines “male” as one whose reproductive system “at some point produces sperm.”

The law also defines “mother” as “a parent who is female” and “father” as “a parent who is male.”

In addition, the law states that “gender,” when used alone in reference to males and females or their natural differences, “shall be considered a synonym for sex and shall not be considered a synonym or shorthand expression for gender identity, experienced gender, gender expression or gender role.”

The law also requires the sex at birth to appear on birth certificates, allowing an extension of “no more than six months” for parents to obtain a diagnosis or testing if a medical determination of sex cannot be immediately determined at birth.

The law also strikes the term “gender identity” from the state’s civil rights code.

Under the law, school districts are prohibited from providing any program or curricula relating to “gender theory” or sexual orientation to students in kindergarten through grade six.

In a social media video, Reynolds noted that the law represented “a sensitive issue for some,” but said, “It’s common sense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women.

“In fact, it’s necessary to secure genuine equal protection for women and girls,” said Reynolds. “It’s why we have men and women’s bathrooms, but not men and women’s conference rooms; girls’ and boys’ sports, but not girls’ math and boys’ math; separate men and women’s prisons, but not different laws for men and women.”

Reynolds said the law was necessary to uphold these distinctions because the state’s civil rights code since 2007 had previously “blurred the biological line between the sexes.” Reynolds said the civil rights code was being used to make the state pay for gender reassignment surgeries, which she said was “unacceptable” to her and most Iowans.

In March 2023, the U.S. bishops’ doctrine committee issued a 14-page statement declaring that surgical, chemical or other interventions that aim “to exchange” a person’s “sex characteristics” for those of the opposite sex “are not morally justified,” as they counter the “fundamental order and finality” of “the human person, body and soul, man or woman.”

The doctrine committee acknowledged that “many people are sincerely looking for ways to respond to real problems and real suffering,” but affirmed that “any technological intervention that does not accord with the fundamental order of the human person as a unity of body and soul, including the sexual difference inscribed in the body, ultimately does not help but, rather, harms the human person.”

LGBTQ+ advocacy groups in Iowa, such as One Iowa, protested the bill, arguing it would negatively affect people who identify as transgender or non-binary. Max Mowitz, One Iowa’s executive director, said Reynolds was on the “wrong side of history.”

“By signing this bill into law, she has made it legal to discriminate against transgender Iowans in nearly every aspect of life — where they live, where they work, and where they go to school,” Mowitz said in a statement Feb. 28. “This law sends a devastating message: that transgender Iowans are not worthy of the same rights, dignity, and protections as their neighbors.”

Reynolds argued the state law brings Iowa into line with the federal civil rights code, and is simply meant to strengthen protections for women and girls.

“We all agree that every Iowan without exception deserves respect and dignity,” she said. “We are all children of God and no law changes that.”

Peter Jesserer Smith, OSV News national news and features editor, contributed to this report.

Read More World News

Three dead, Holy Family Gaza pastor injured after mid-morning Israeli attack

Proof of life for kidnapped Nigerian priest received by Alaska diocese where he served

Filled with hope, Christians know cries of the innocent will be heard, pope says

Pope calls for ceasefire, dialogue, peace after church hit in Gaza

School club gives students chance to benefit veterans, fosters Gospel value of serving others

Top Republican appears to walk back probe of Catholic entities amid charged committee hearing

Copyright © 2025 OSV News

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Gina Christian

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

  • Father Robert Wojsław dies at 52

  • Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

  • Loyola University Maryland graduate ordained Jesuit priest

  • Quo Vadis attracts biggest crowd ever, promotes camaraderie and faith

| Latest Local News |

Quo Vadis attracts biggest crowd ever, promotes camaraderie and faith

Lay associates journey with the Oblate Sisters of Providence

Father Robert Wojsław dies at 52

Scopes Monkey Trial ignited century-long debate on evolution and belief 

Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

| Latest World News |

Three dead, Holy Family Gaza pastor injured after mid-morning Israeli attack

Proof of life for kidnapped Nigerian priest received by Alaska diocese where he served

Filled with hope, Christians know cries of the innocent will be heard, pope says

Pope calls for ceasefire, dialogue, peace after church hit in Gaza

School club gives students chance to benefit veterans, fosters Gospel value of serving others

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Quo Vadis attracts biggest crowd ever, promotes camaraderie and faith
  • Three dead, Holy Family Gaza pastor injured after mid-morning Israeli attack
  • Proof of life for kidnapped Nigerian priest received by Alaska diocese where he served
  • Filled with hope, Christians know cries of the innocent will be heard, pope says
  • Pope calls for ceasefire, dialogue, peace after church hit in Gaza
  • School club gives students chance to benefit veterans, fosters Gospel value of serving others
  • Top Republican appears to walk back probe of Catholic entities amid charged committee hearing
  • Mahmoud v. Taylor: A Supreme Court victory for parents, freedom
  • Church leaders, faithful in procession to Detroit ICE office call for just immigration policies

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en