Commentary

Idaho Chooses Life announced today that it has given Rep. Vito Barbieri (R-Dalton Gardens) its “Friend for Life Award”.

“This honor is given to Idahoans who have made significant contributions to the protection of our preborn children,” said ICL Executive Director David Ripley in a prepared statement.  “Vito has long been a champion of the defenseless.”

Barbieri has served on the powerful State Affairs Committee in the Idaho House of Representatives for over nine years of his eleven years in the Legislature. This is the committee that deals with pro-Life legislation. Rep. Barbieri also served for more than a decade on the board of Open Arms Pregnancy Care Center in Coeur d’Alene.

“As a senior member of this key committee, Vito has played a critical role in moving big bills forward – like last year’s Trigger Law and this year’s bill to prevent additional tax dollars from going to Planned Parenthood,” Ripley added.

“But we are particularly grateful for the courageous, and often lonely, work that Rep. Barbieri put in this year on the heartbeat bill,” Ripley said.  “He is a person of integrity and this public recognition is long overdue.”

Barbieri said “I want to thank Idaho Chooses Life for all of the work they do on behalf of the innocent in Idaho. It is an honor to be recognized in what’s really a collective effort to save preborn babies.”

Past recipients of the Award include Congressman Helen Chenoweth, Senator Mike Crapo, Frank Vander Sloot and Pastor Tim Remington.

Taking advantage of the school holiday on Monday, Planned Parenthood is planning a big lobbying effort to stop pro-Life legislation from advancing at the Statehouse. Sadly, high school kids will be prominent among their minions.

Top of their list: HB 572, which would redirect family planning funds to public agencies. This is one of the tax-paid revenue streams Planned Parenthood uses to transform our culture and corrupt our children.  That legislation, sponsored by Rep. Tom Loertscher and Sen. Todd Lakey, is now awaiting a hearing in the House Health & Welfare Committee – chaired by Rep. Fred Wood (R-Burley).

We are also hearing that Planned Parenthood is waging an aggressive phone campaign to stop SB 1243, sponsored by Sen. Lori Den Hartog. This simple, straight-forward bill would require the State to include the Abortion Pill Reversal protocol in the state’s Informed Consent materials.  They are obviously very scared about this information getting out to women and girls.  They know better than most that a significant number of women and girls taking the Abortion Pill (RU-486) experience immediate regret and remorse.

Their fierce opposition to the APR bill provides insight into the heart of this organization: At all costs, we cannot suffer those babies to live. We cannot tolerate women learning the truth, or learning of their actual options.

Our other legislation – HB 571, sponsored by Rep. Greg Chaney and Sen. Fred Martin – was just introduced last week. But we predict that they will become equally agitated over this bill – even though it has virtually nothing to do with Planned Parenthood.  This legislation would create, for the first time, a comprehensive system of reporting on the complications and problems women suffer in the wake of an abortion.  HB 571 would require ever doctor and hospital to file a report with the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare when they encounter a woman or girl seeking treatment for an abortion complication.

Imagine a database on abortion that is not created, controlled or manipulated by Planned Parenthood!

Please take a moment to pray for our efforts. And phone your legislator.  The local number is 208.332.1000.  Outstate citizens can leave a message for their legislator by using the toll-free number: 800.626.0471.

Legislation (SB1243) to expand Idaho’s Informed Consent Law had a formal hearing before the Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday morning. The Abortion Lobby showed up in force to urge the measure’s defeat.  One would have thought that Sen. Lori Den Hartog and the Pro-Life Lobby was about to repeal Roe v. Wade.

Instead, the modest legislation would require the State of Idaho to include information about the possibility that women and girls might be able to reverse the effects of RU-486 if they move quickly enough. It would become part of the State’s Informed Consent booklet, which the Abortion Industry must provide to each woman during the 24-hour waiting period.

But somehow this proposal to inform girls about their options is “anti-woman” and an “abuse of government power”. This may strike more casual followers of the abortion debate as rather strange and illogical.  But it is part and parcel of the battle.

Planned Parenthood and their fellow-travelers have opposed every single piece of legislation related to informed consent for twenty years. They do not want women to know that there are options.  They do not want women to know that there are risks.  They do not want women to get the phone numbers of adoption agencies or pro-Life centers which can help them deal with a difficult pregnancy.  Yet, somehow, the media continues to refer to them as the “pro-choice” crowd, the “pro-woman” movement.

The truth is, there is no more paternalistic and condescending crowd than the Abortion Lobby.

Monday’s show was stolen, however, by a remarkable young mother named Rebecca. She told committee members of her own experience with the Abortion Pill Reversal process.  At the age of 19, she became pregnant for the second time while in an abusive relationship.  She turned to Planned Parenthood because she was convinced that her only option was ending the baby’s life by using RU-486.  After taking the first pill in the Planned Parenthood office, she left with the second pill in a bag.  She began crying as she sat in her car, suddenly panicked over what she had done.  She began searching the internet on her phone, desperately seeking any advice or information about whether she could do anything to stop the abortion.  And she ran across a website telling her that there were doctors who had developed a protocol for overcoming the effects of the first pill if a mother moved quickly enough.

Rebecca found a doctor to help. And she experienced the miracle of motherhood again.  In fact, she brought her son Zechariah to the hearing – who spent most of the three hours sleeping in his mother’s arms.  He is a beautiful 3 or 4 year old boy.

Yet the Abortion Lobby was not to be deterred. Despite the fact that living, breathing evidence sat in the front row of the hearing room – speaker after speaker told committee members that there was no science to back up the APR protocol, that it was not possible to reverse a chemical abortion once it had begun.  It was just astounding to see the triumph of ideology over fact for so many followers of Planned Parenthood.  They have some powerful Kool-Aid over on that side of the room, apparently.

SB 1243 was approved by the Senate committee on a party-line vote and is now pending on the Senate floor.

We commend Sen. Lori Den Hartog and Right to Life of Idaho for bringing the legislation, which we strongly support.

We also want to give thanks for the courage displayed by Rebecca.  May the Lord watch over her and bless her children.

Please take a moment to call or email your legislators about this important bill. Hopefully this proposal will lead to more miracle stories in the years to come.

The pro-Life community has an aggressive agenda for this session of the Idaho Legislature. And the battle is about to be engaged.

On Monday morning, the Senate State Affairs is scheduled to take up legislation prepared by Right to Life. SB 1243 is a proposed law which would inform women who begin a chemical abortion that there is a chance to reverse the process – if she moves quickly.  The lead Senate sponsor of the bill is Meridian State Senator Lori Den Hartog.

Some of our pro-Life readers may be surprised to learn that it is even possible to save the life of a preborn child once a chemical abortion has started. But, in some cases, it is.  The chemical abortion procedure uses two different pills to complete an abortion.  This is the RU-486 regime.  The first pill kills the baby over the course of hours by depriving the baby of oxygen and nutrients.  The second pill (misoprostol) is taken 24-48 hours later, and induces labor to expel the dead baby.

Pro-Life researchers have discovered that the baby can sometimes be saved after the first pill is taken. The basic approach is the same as that used when a mother is at high risk of miscarriage – by using aggressive dosages of the hormone progesterone.

We have learned during the decades of work in the pro-Life field that it is fairly common for women and girls to experience almost immediate regret and grief over the abortion decision. It is almost as if the spiritual veil has been lifted and the profound reality of ending an innocent life sets in.  Of course, Planned Parenthood abortionists are quick to tell women that they have no choice once the abortion procedure begins – but that is not always the case.

This is an important piece of legislation and we ask for your prayer support. Not only does it represent a real chance to save some of those babies at high risk – it represents a viable strategy for saving mothers from a lifetime of guilt and remorse.

Governor Otter signed SB1404 into law today. This landmark legislation, known as the Idaho Unborn Infants Dignity Act, makes a huge step forward in affirming the value of the preborn child.

The new law makes it illegal to harvest organs and body parts from aborted babies. It also makes it illegal to conduct medical experiments using tissue harvested from babies killed by abortion.

Another feature of the legislation creates a death certificate for babies lost to miscarriage. Many grieving parents testified before the Legislation, asking for this important recognition of their child.  And the new law makes it clear that parents have the right to direct the final disposition of babies lost to miscarriage and abortion.

There are many people to thank for this great pro-Life victory. Let’s begin with the lead sponsors of the legislation, Sen. Cliff Bayer and Rep. Brent Crane.  Both of these men signed up early in the wake of the horrible revelations regarding Planned Parenthood’s nasty side business of trading baby parts for Lamborghinis.  We had dozens of co-sponsors as well.  Idaho is well-served by such citizens willing to accept the responsibility of serving their neighbors at the Capitol.

The leadership of the Legislature in both chambers was very helpful and supportive of this effort. We are especially grateful for the support of Sens. Bart Davis and Todd Lakey.  Sen. Lakey in particular devoted tremendous time to making this effort successful.  Special thanks are due as well to Chairman Loertscher for his leadership and wisdom, and we are thankful to Chairman McKenzie for giving us ample time before the Senate State Affairs panel.

We must also acknowledge the role played by Americans United for Life. The basic blueprint for this legislation was developed by this tremendous organization last fall, and they continue to play a vital role in rebuilding a wall of protection around the preborn child.

Idaho is blessed to have a pro-Life governor and legislature. This legislation is a strong statement of principle and decency at a time when the nation desperately needs such leadership.  Hopefully the Idaho Unborn Infants Dignity Act can be used in other states as a model response to the on-going horrors of an unbridled abortion industry.

There were times in this legislative struggle when the odds seemed long, but the Lord helped us overcome the obstacles in our path. Ultimately, this victory belongs to Him.

Late yesterday, on the eve of adjournment, the Idaho House voted 54-14 to approve SB1404. This landmark legislation makes it illegal to harvest tissue from aborted babies, and it makes it illegal to use such tissue in experimentations at Idaho’s public universities and colleges.

Thus, SB1404 attacks both the supply and demand side of the organ trafficking horror revealed by the undercover video project of the Center for Medical Progress.

The only organized opposition to the legislation came from Planned Parenthood – the same group which has used fetal tissue to subsidize payroll for its abortionists across the nation. This is the same organization which claimed as recently as yesterday to unwitting reporters at KTVB that they don’t harvest and sell organs from its Idaho abortuaries.

And, yet, Planned Parenthood of Idaho has a long track record of deceiving public officials and the general public about its operations and intentions. (Only a year ago, they told legislators they had no plans to perform “web-cam” abortions using RU-486; in December they filed suit against the State because they have a “constitutional right“ to offer such services across rural Idaho).

The clueless media dutifully reported on Democrats skipping out of the House State Affairs Committee on Thursday morning because they were “offended” by the very concept of legislation like SB1404.  The same media outlets made no attempt to contact pro-Life sponsors of the legislation for a response; thus the self-serving construct of Planned Parenthood’s “victimhood” went unchallenged.  (Channel 7 didn’t even bother to cover the actual committee hearing in which testimony was presented regarding the critical need for this legislation).

But facts are stubborn things and the people of Idaho have been well-served by their legislators on this bill.

Sen. Cliff Bayer, for instance, gave compelling testimony about the serious ethical consequences to medical science from an unchecked reliance on tissue harvested from aborted babies.

While Democrats protested out in the hallway, claiming that the legislation was not “worthy of our time”, mothers who have miscarried their babies shared their tearful experiences with legislators and expressed gratitude for provisions of the bill which allow for a Certificate of Miscarriage to commemorate their loss.

The legislation is now before Governor Otter.

You can see the biased media coverage for yourself by clicking here.