The Senate State Affairs Committee voted 7-2 to send a new Parental Consent bill to the full Senate. There are a couple technical amendments which ought be dealt with on the Senate floor by week’s end – then the legislation will be considered for final passage early next week.

From there, the legislation is expected to move to the House Committee on State Affairs.

The motion to send SB1082 to the floor was made by Sen. Geddes, seconded by Sen. Little. Chairman Curt McKenzie voted for the measure, as did Sens. Jorgensen, Darrington, Davis and Malepeai. The latter gentleman was the only Democrat to vote for the bill.

Pro-Life testimony was best summarized by Mrs. Susan Drayton, who pleaded, “Do not allow strangers to continue to trespass into our lives”. Without parental consent laws, abortionists and Planned Parenthood employees will likely have more to say to your teenage daughter about her abortion than you will. For several years now, Idaho daughters have had virtually no protection from the false promises of the Abortion Industry.

A number of pro-Life leaders testified in support of the bill, including Bryan Fischer of the Idaho Values Alliance and Brandi Swindell of Generation Life.

David Ripley, Executive Director of Idaho Chooses Life pointed to medical research showing the tremendous potential impact an abortion could have on a young lady’s future: Increased risk of breast cancer, drug abuse, premature births of subsequent babies and repeat abortions. All of those personal tragedies and social maladies come with a big cost to taxpayers. For those concerned about the litigation costs of Idaho’s pursuit of an effective Parental Consent Law over the past 7 or 8 years – they would be well advised to consider the huge impact of these social problems on the public treasury.

At this stage of the process, it seems unlikely SB1082 will be challenged in court. During hard questioning by Senate members, abortion advocates were unable to identify a single constitutional issue with the bill.

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