Idaho lawmakers consider new medical abortion regulations
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A legislative panel is considering new regulations for medication-induced abortions in Idaho that would require in-person counseling and an examination before the medication is prescribed.
The House State Affairs Committee voted to introduce a bill Thursday that would ban doctors from giving the abortion drugs unless the doctor determines the abortion is safe and appropriate, and also tries to schedule a follow-up visit.
Idaho's current laws are focused mainly on surgical abortions, but the number of medical abortions is growing, said David Ripley from Idaho Chooses Life.
"Idaho law has been drafted with a bias toward surgical abortions in the state," he said. "Not enough attention has been paid to the use of abortion-causing drugs. That's a real problem."
The bill was introduced after a party-line vote, with all four Democrats voting no.
While the number of abortions in Idaho has decreased in recent years, the proportion of medication-induced procedures has grown rapidly.
Medication-induced abortions grew from 11 percent of Idaho abortions in 2005 to 20 percent just two years later. Today, they account for almost four in 10 abortions in Idaho.
Ripley said he expects the number to continue to climb. He's dubbed his bill the "chemical abortion bill," though drug-induced abortions are generally called "medical abortions" in the health care industry.
The Food and Drug Administration has instituted some of the same guidelines for using drugs that terminate a pregnancy.
Democratic Rep. Melissa Wintrow of Boise questioned whether Idaho should align with the FDA regulations. Ripley said it was a complicated question and some of the federal agency's guidelines are under litigation.
The proposal would also outline steps to protect anonymity in court of any woman who has had an abortion.
Kathy Griesmyer, who represents the American Civil Liberties Union in Idaho, said she thinks the plan interjects lawmakers into a woman's private medical decisions. She said the plan isn't necessary for a woman to have a safe and legal abortion in the state.
"The bill is being introduced as a way to create one more barrier or obstacle for a woman to face to get an abortion," she said.
The committee will hold a full hearing on the bill in the coming weeks.
Idaho's abortion laws have frequently been the subject of lawsuits. The latest bill comes about three years after an eastern Idaho woman was charged with a felony because prosecutors said she terminated her pregnancy using drugs she ordered online.
Jennie McCormick said she didn't have enough money to pay for a surgical abortion, and the nearest abortion provider was several hours away in a neighboring state. Police began investigating when an acquaintance reported that McCormick had given herself a medical abortion after obtaining the required medications online.
McCormick was charged with performing an illegal abortion. Prosecutors also said McCormick violated abortion laws because they believed the fetus, which police had found wrapped in plastic bags and placed inside a box on her back porch, was possibly at 20 weeks' gestation or more when it was aborted.
The local prosecutor later dropped the charges against McCormick, but she sued the state in federal court, challenging the constitutionality of Idaho's abortion restrictions.
In 2013, U.S. District B. Lynn Winmill overturned Idaho's law banning abortions after 20 weeks. Winmill also took the Idaho Legislature to task for the motives driving adoption of the law, finding that efforts to protect a fetus don't outweigh a woman's right to choose.
The federal ruling also found to be unconstitutional some other Idaho abortion laws: the requirement that first-trimester abortions be performed by a physician in a staffed office or clinic, the requirement that second-trimester abortions be performed in a hospital, and a statute that criminalizes the woman in some cases for undergoing the procedure.