Idaho Republican wants to remove rape, incest exceptions from abortion laws
An Idaho Republican senator wants to remove exceptions in Idaho’s abortion laws that allowed the procedure in cases of incest and rape reported to law enforcement. It would make certain death of the pregnant patient the only legal defense for an abortion.
Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Viola, introduced the personal bill, meaning the proposed law did not go through the standard committee process. Personal bills can be introduced during the first 12 days of the session in the Senate, and those bills rarely become law.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, which ended the constitutional right to abortion, Idaho has implemented laws banning abortion in almost all instances, save for when an abortion must be performed to save a pregnant person’s life or when the pregnancy was a result of reported rape or incest.
Senate Bill 1229 would remove those last two exceptions and make doctors who perform them in those instances subject to prison terms of two to five years.
Foreman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rep. Lauren Necochea, D-Boise, told the Statesman the bill illustrates “just how far right the party has moved.”
“That the state would force a 12-year-old rape victim to carry a pregnancy is a shocking idea, and Sen. Foreman is clearly out of step with the values of the vast majority of Idahoans,” she said.
The Idaho GOP voted at its 2022 convention against adding language to its party platform that would support exceptions to abortion laws to save the life of the mother, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. The party’s platform calls abortion murder “from the moment of fertilization.”
This story was originally published January 18, 2024 at 5:54 PM.
