Confusion around whether doctors in Idaho could treat pregnancy complications, like ectopic pregnancies, without running afoul of the state’s criminal abortion ban could be cleared up under a new bill.
Sen. Scott Herndon’s (R-Sagle) proposal defines an abortion as intentionally killing a living fetus or embryo in utero.
Tailoring it that way, Herndon said, explicitly addresses ectopic pregnancies, in which a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus and can cause life-threatening bleeding if it isn’t treated, according to the Mayo Clinic.
He said his bill would allow abortions in those circumstances, as well as when a fetus dies in the womb.
“This would offer extreme clarity that clearly, if the baby is already pre-deceased, the physician is never going to be in danger of a criminal penalty,” Herndon said.
Anybody who cares for a pregnant woman in an attempt to save her life, but who unintentionally kills her fetus in the process, would also be exempted from prosecution under the measure.
Herndon said his definition would not include IUDs or emergency contraception, like Plan B, as causing an abortion.
Herndon also tried to introduce a bill that would’ve removed exemptions for abortions in cases of rape and incest, though it would’ve still allowed abortions in order to save the life of a mother.
He said it was “auspicious” that Monday celebrates the life and work of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.
“He spent 13 years advancing the civil rights of people based on certain characteristics and this does the same thing,” Herndon said, noting that fetuses conceived through alleged rape or incest aren’t treated equally under the law.
Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow (D-Boise) rejected that comparison, while also saying Herndon’s bill would force a teenage girl to carry her pregnancy to term even if she was raped by a family member.
Herndon said the state wouldn’t “force” anyone to do anything.
“These are merely natural circumstances. The state of Idaho does not control that,” he said.
“Some people could describe the situation that you’re talking about as the opportunity to have a child in those terrible circumstances if the rape actually occurred.”
Herndon’s attempt to cut out those abortion exceptions failed, with only Sen. Ben Toews (R-Coeur d’Alene) supporting it. His other bill still needs a public hearing before it could reach the Senate floor.
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