Commentary

SB1243 passed the Idaho Senate this past week by an overwhelming margin. All Republicans members voted in favor of legislation to make sure women and girls learn that a chemical abortion can be reversed in certain circumstances.  The bill was developed by Right to Life and the lead Senate sponsor is Sen. Lori Den Hartog (R-Meridian)

Planned Parenthood and their media allies have attacked the legislation as being fanciful and even misleading – despite the fact that hundreds of babies have been born after the mother has swallowed the first of the RU-486 abortion pills. One of those miracles was present during the Senate committee hearing on the bill.  This important legislation is now awaiting hearing in the House State Affairs Committee.

We also saw the advance of our legislation to create a comprehensive reporting system on abortion complications. HB571, sponsored by Rep. Greg Chaney (R-Caldwell), was approved by the House State Affairs on Friday morning.

It is rather stunning to realize that, some 45 years into the Roe era, we actually know so little about the health and safety risks associated with abortion. The Abortion Industry has largely been in control of everything we think we know about abortion.  Since 1977, abortionists have been required to file reports with the State when they perform abortions.  But reports on follow-up problems – like bleeding, incomplete abortions, infections – are not tracked by anyone.

That has allowed the Abortion Industry to make claims about abortion safety for four decades without fear of challenge.

The FDA has a program to track complications from chemical abortions, but that is also voluntary. This is part of the public relations effort the FDA put in place when they legalized RU-486 back in 2000.  Making matters worse – the FDA has not published a report on complications since 2011.  We need an Idaho system.

Now that Idaho has been forced to accept tele-med abortions, it is imperative that we have a comprehensive system to track complications arising from this experiment with women’s health.

We ask you for your prayers. And please take a moment to contact your legislator urging passage of these two important bills.