It was after midnight on May 20, 2021, but every face in Gov. Kim Reynolds’ private office at the State Capitol Building was full of maskless smiles. They had succeeded. Reynolds signed a law that banned schools from requiring masks.
At the governor’s shoulder, two Central Iowa moms stood with wide grins and big signs. One sign claimed masks were child abuse and the other featured a picture of the woman’s daughter with the words “My mask caused a staph infection on my face four times. My body, my choice. Unmask Iowa.”
The ban was their victory most of all.
At the height of the pandemic, when leaders were grappling with how to continue living safely, Kimberly Reicks and Emily Peterson rose up to oppose the most straightforward safety precaution: students being required to wear masks to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in school buildings.
Reicks and Peterson, who called themselves the Iowa Mama Bears, were so loud in their opposition to masks, they got the attention of Iowa Republicans in the legislature and Gov. Kim Reynolds who used the controversy to ban school mask requirements in Iowa.
Just hand delivered HF847 to @KimReynoldsIA desk. Parents, now you get to make the choice on whether your kids will wear a mask or not. #ialegis pic.twitter.com/6FUFn2JE6q
— Speaker Pat Grassley (@PatGrassley) May 20, 2021
“We were in shock and awe,” Peterson told the Des Moines Register after the signing. “Thankfulness that cannot be described…all of our efforts were not in vain.”
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