We are expecting the Idaho House of Representatives to approve HB 654, legislation which will make it a crime to force a woman to submit to an abortion.


This is not the bill we were hoping to pass. It has been narrowly drawn to define "coercion" as including only assault and battery. From our two-year study of this serious problem, it is clear that ‘coercion’ takes many forms – all of them potentially deadly to the mother and baby.

Those additional protections will have to await another legislative session.


The problem has been the Abortion Lobby – principally Planned Parenthood. Their repeated threats to sue in federal court if we persist in efforts to protect women from forced abortion have had an effect on legislators. They simply refuse to allow the State to interfere with their business practices, which obviously involve doing abortions on women and girls they suspect are under duress.


HB 654 does not do what is necessary to create a safe zone around women and girls dealing with a difficult pregnancy. But it is a beginning. It establishes the concept of abortion-coercion in Idaho Law for the first time; in fact – we think this may be the first such law in the nation.


As we approach the final days of the 2008 Legislative Session, we ask that you remain vigilant with your calls and prayers.

To see the amended legislation for yourself:

http://http://www3.state.id.us/oasis/H0654.html