Idaho Republicans, at their annual convention over the weekend, affirmed anti-abortion stances in their official party platform — and voted to make no exceptions to abortion bans when a person’s life is threatened due to pregnancy.
When given the opportunity to vote on a single exception to allow for abortion when a person’s life depends on it (including for nonviable pregnancies, like ectopic pregnancies), the Republicans soundly rejected the idea.
By a vote of 412 GOP delegates to 164The party voted against an anti-abortion amendment in the platform that would have allowed the exception to become the official stance of Idaho Republicans.
The provision does explicitly state that miscarriages — whose treatments are often the same as those for an abortion — would not be criminalized. The platform does not allow for life-saving abortions. However, it does not make exceptions for incest or rape. defining any abortion as “murder from the moment of fertilization.”
Such language Widespread medical consensus is not favorable to pregnancies — a fertilized egg is not considered the start of a pregnancy, as the development of any zygote requires implantation to start. Many fertilized eggs are expelled naturally from the body by menstruation, even if they have not been implanted on uterine wall.
It’s highly possible that the Idaho Republican Party’s definitions and restrictions will become law in the state — the GOP currently has a supermajority in the state legislature, and the state’s anti-abortion Republican governor, Brad Little, is expected to win reelection this fall.
Idaho is poised to be one of the most restrictive in the country in terms of abortion. A trigger law in the state was set to go into effect30 days after Roe V. Wade was overturned in a Supreme Court ruling, which took place in June, the state is suing to block the trigger law. But, providers and abortion rights organizations are suing the state in an attempt to stop the trigger law. a judicial hearing set for August 3.
The trigger law prohibits the procedure at any stage of pregnancy. Although it does not contain any exceptions, some procedural issues may render these exceptions moot. While victims of rape are legally allowed to obtain an abortion, they can only access the procedure after providing documentation of a police report — a requirement that makes the exception almost meaningless, since police reports aren’t ordinarily released during ongoing inquiries. Many victims of sexual assault and rape are uninclined to file police reports for myriad reasonsEspecially if they are concerned about how the attackers will respond to such filings.
