Labels: abortion, Idaho Chooses Life, parental consent

Labels: Idaho Chooses Life, Planned Parenthood, Washington

Labels: parental consent

It may sound elementary at a time when all we hear is the chorus, “A woman’s right to choose….” But all around us, women and girls are facing multiple levels of pressure and intimidation to abort their babies.

The Elliot Institute reports that up to 64% of post-abortive women confess that they were forced into abortion.

Some of that coercion takes the form of emotional blackmail. Some threats involve a husband or boyfriend abandoning the woman if she doesn’t kill the child. There have been national stories about parents kidnapping their teenage daughters and carrying them into an abortuary; or employers promising job termination if the woman’s pregnancy doesn’t end.

Oddly enough, only 5 states have laws which attempt to protect women from coercion. Idaho is not one of them.

On Thursday, the House Health & Welfare voted to print a bill which seeks to correct that serious hole in Idaho law. Led by Rep. Bob Nonini in the House and Sen. Monty Pearce in the Idaho Senate, a group of seven legislators are working with Idaho Chooses Life to enact the “Idaho Anti-Coercion Act”.

It would, for the first time, make it clear that it is a crime to coerce a woman or girl into getting an abortion.

We believe that most legislators will come to see this protection as necessary and long overdue. But we will need your help to get the legislation passed. Please make time in your schedule over the next week to contact your legislator.

Idaho’s daughters need to be protected. They need to be free to choose life for their vulnerable babies.

We carried a piece in our recent newsletter about efforts by the feminist movement to revive the Equal Rights Amendment. Some of our folks were a bit incredulous. After all, many have even forgotten about this ill-advised attempt to reengineer society.

The Equal Rights Amendment, submitted to the states back in 1972, was officially declared dead by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982 after it failed to get approval by 38 states in the time established by Congress.

But, believe it or not – leaders of the movement are determined to resume efforts on securing three more states’ ratification. Having become quite accustomed to special treatment from the federal courts on matters like abortion – they are betting that they can call the Supreme Court’s bluff.

And just this week, they brought forth a vote in the Arkansas House on the ERA. At first, it seemed like a forgone conclusion. Feminists announced earlier this year that they had some 66 co-sponsors of the ratifying language. I guess denial was finally overcome as conservatives swung into action.

Pro-Life leaders began working legislators in Arkansas. They needed to know that ERA language adopted in state constitutions have already been used as potent weapons to destroy the minimal restrictions on abortion won through the legislatures. For example, the New Mexico state ERA was used by state courts there to obliterate restrictions on public funding of abortions. A similar phenomenon occurred in Connecticut.

Fortunately for America – an Arkansas House committee voted down the ratification resolution after 20 of those original sponsors learned more about its ramifications.

We need to watch this whole plot more closely. And give thanks for those family champions who met the threat in Arkansas.

The Senate State Affairs Committee voted to introduce our Parental Consent legislation yesterday. It should have an official bill number early next week.

Sen. Russ Fulcher (R-Kuna) is championing the measure in the Senate; Rep. Tom Loertscher (R-Iona) is the chief House sponsor. Sen. Fulcher fielded a variety of questions from members of the panel – many of whom have been involved in this effort for many years.

Naturally, some members of the committee are skeptical of claims that this version of Parental Consent will withstand the scrutiny of Judge Lynn Winmill and his compatriots on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. We have, after all, been down this road several times. Skepticism aside – the hearing went well. Sen. Fulcher handled preliminary questions with skill and appreciation for the long and hard road we’ve been on to secure basic protections for our daughters.

Representatives of Attorney General Lawrence Wasden also handled themselves and the questions with great professionalism. His office has put tremendous effort into resolving a number of potential problems with a parental consent law in Idaho; given two rounds of litigation in Idaho federal courts since 2000, that job has gotten exceedingly complex.

In what is a rarity in our experience – the motion by Sens. Little and Jorgenson to formally consider the bill was supported by a unanimous voice vote by the committee.

Now that the bill has been made public – we urge you to contact legislators. It may be a week or more before the actual hearing, which gives the Abortion Lobby plenty of time to organize public opposition. Your diligent prayer support is necessary for this effort to succeed.

We’ll have a more thorough discussion of the legislation in a coming post.

But let’s close this one with a warm “thanks” to the Lord for helping us remain faithful to this effort – and for the leadership of champions like Russ Fulcher and Tom Loertscher.