Bill would restrict abortions
BOISE - Idaho lawmakers introduced a bill Friday that would prohibit women from getting an abortion 20 weeks after pregnancy, setting the table for potentially divisive debate on an issue the Legislature has avoided in recent years.
The Senate State Affairs Committee could begin hearings in two weeks on the so-called Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The measure is founded on emerging, yet disputed medical evidence that fetuses 20 weeks post conception are capable of experiencing and responding in a physical manner to pain.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Eagle, said the state has a compelling interest to protect and guard against unborn children from experiencing the suffering and torture he contends is caused by the abortion procedure.
"This is an issue of cruelty," said Winder, who drew comparisons to a bill debated moments earlier to address unfair treatment of dogs deemed vicious. "If the state has an interest in cruelty to animals, it should also have in interest in cruelty to unborn humans."
Idaho is hardly breaking new ground on legislation abortion supporters see as another attack on late-term abortions. Winder's bill, pushed by Idaho Right to Life, is modeled after a Nebraska law that took effect in October outlawing abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy.
Hailed by national abortion foes, the Nebraska law departs from the standard of viability that was established by the 1973 landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade, which allows states to limit abortions in cases where there's a viable chance the fetus could survive outside the womb, generally considered to be between 22 and 24 weeks.
Lawmakers in several other states - including Iowa, Indiana and Kentucky - are contemplating similar legislation. So far, the constitutionality of the Nebraska law and its scientific underpinnings have not been challenged in the courts.
The Idaho version would make exceptions when the mother's condition is deemed a risk to her health but does not allow mental or emotional conditions to be considered in the risk assessment. It also establishes new reporting criteria for physicians who perform later-term abortions and sanctions for failing to follow those new rules.
"There are babies that have been born and survive after 20 weeks. In my opinion, I would be in favor of that (bill) personally," said Nancy Tefft, director of Open Arms PCC & Real Choices Clinic, a Coeur d'Alene nonprofit that offers support and assistance to pregnant mothers.
A fetus shows signs of development at a very early stage of the pregnancy, Tefft said. Eight weeks after conception, all of the major organ systems are in place.
"To me, truthfully, it's hard for me to (think) of all that goes on with that baby at 20 weeks, and to think of the brutality involved," Tefft said.
The bill is likely to stir passions on both sides of the abortion debate.
Sen. Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, said concerns about the bill go beyond steps to infringe on a woman's right to choose. Introducing pain as a key factor raises questions about a variety of medical procedures performed by doctors on pregnant women during the last few months of pregnancy, she said.
"Making pain a criteria over whether we can do anything with a fetus brings questions about a whole series of vital medical procedures," Stennett said. "It looks like a ridiculous and impossible piece of legislation to impose on doctors."
Staff at the Planned Parenthood facility in Spokane were unable to comment Friday.