OPINION: Republicans are not pro-life

It’s time to consider which party is actually pro-life. 

Last week, House Republicans killed a Democratic-sponsored bill that would have required schools to tell a parent if their child was being bullied. All of your North Idaho representatives voted against it.

Their vote declared that parents and guardians can be left in the dark when their child is being actively bullied or is in severe distress. Severe bullying can be a traumatic crisis for some children, and can also lead to depression. 

According to the most recent state information on suicides, 68.9% involved a crisis that preceded death; 24.9% involved people diagnosed with depression. Between 2017 and 2021, 132 Idaho children between 10 and 18 years old died of suicide. (Idaho Department of Health and Welfare)

“Substantial evidence has indicated that any bullying involvement heightens the risks of suicidal ideation, suicidal behavior, and poor mental and physical health outcomes.” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8910292/)

Idaho Republicans vote against parental involvement. But they will vote for House Bill 415.

Co-sponsored by North Idaho Representatives Redman, Alfieri and Scott, HB 415 would increase the prevalence of guns in Idaho schools.

The bill would make posting a “Gun Free Zone” placard in any Idaho school a crime punishable by a $300 fine. It would also allow any teacher, volunteer, staff member, bus driver, etc., to carry a weapon on school grounds as long as they hold an enhanced concealed carry license.

When challenged on the bill, North Idaho’s District 4 Sen. Ben Toews said in an email, "It has my full support; it will make our schools safer, and the alternative is an affront to liberty. … While sheltering might make sense for those unequipped to fight, it is profoundly disconcerting, and contrary to our 2nd Amendment tradition, when we prohibit those teachers who are able and willing to defend their school from doing so.”

Let’s say the quiet part out loud, Senator: defending the school instead of sheltering means teachers shooting and killing people, possibly students.

Recently, another North Idaho legislator introduced a bill that would prohibit cities, counties and other local units of government from regulating knives. Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d’Alene, sponsored the new bill, saying knives are a form of arms that are protected by the Second Amendment.

It gets worse. 

In a recent debate over reviving the state's Maternal Mortality Review Committee, Republicans argued that the number of mothers dying wasn’t large enough to justify the cost of the committee.

In 2021, 17 Idaho women died of pregnancy-related causes. Since then 22% of Idaho’s OB-GYN physicians have left and the maternal death rate has risen 121.5%.

Does this sound pro-life to you?

Elsewhere, the entirely Republican Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled that frozen embryos are children. Destroying an embryo, even accidentally, is murder.

This allegedly pro-life stance is going to destroy families hoping to have children through in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

IVF accounts for about 2% of births each year in the U.S. In the IVF process, multiple eggs are harvested from a woman. They are then fertilized with semen and implanted back into the woman to create a pregnancy. 

The fertilized egg is called an embryo. But not all embryos thrive; in fact, most embryos die in the IVF process. Doctors create large numbers of embryos, hoping to improve the odds of a successful pregnancy.

Alabama's ruling raises questions about what happens to unused embryos in storage, whether authorities could order them to be implanted in unwilling parents or bring child abuse charges, and what happens if a doctor implants embryos that fail to develop.

Are mothers guilty of murder? Republicans say yes. Democrats say no.

Democrats are the pro-life party. We believe in a living wage, we believe in bodily autonomy, we believe in pre-school and safe and thriving public schools. 

We believe in universal pre-K, and we believe in universal health care. We take care of children, support families, defend women’s rights and move forward as a community.

It’s easy to pay lip service to a fetus or a firearm. It is harder to stop bullying, improve mental health, decrease suicides, save mother’s lives, or support families who want to have children but can’t.

Republicans know this, so they take the easy way out. Democrats do the hard work of supporting Idaho families.

It’s time to consider which party is actually pro-life.

• • •

Evan Koch is chairman of the Kootenai County Democrats.