Famous Potatoes
Idaho’s license plates used to carry the motto, “Famous Potatoes”. Other than the movie “Napoleon Dynamite”, potatoes might be Idaho’s best-known contribution to American culture. That may change soon. Idaho may be the only state where a rapist can collect a bounty if his victim obtains an abortion. Imagine “Rapists Get Rich Here” on a license plate.
Idaho’s legislature passed a bill this month that copies the infamous Texas Right to Life bill and exceeds it. It also bans abortion when a fetal heartbeat can be detected after six weeks (and before some women even know that they are pregnant). Not to let those Texans get ahead of them, the Idaho legislature originally wanted the ban to be effective at fertilization which could lead to some unique “pillow talk” in Boise. “I’ve got to go home to my wife and kids now. Don’t even think about an abortion or I’ll turn you in.”
If the governor signs the bill (and being a Republican of course he will), the father of the “preborn child” or any member of the father’s family can sue if an abortion is performed without their consent. Those pikers in Texas can only get a $10 K bounty and can collect it only once for reporting an abortion. In Idaho, the bounty is $20 K and more than one “injured party” is eligible. Not only can the “preborn’s” father collect $20 K but his siblings, parents, aunts and uncles can get their own $20 K as well (plus attorney’s fees, of course). “Tiffany got an abortion? Yahoo! We’ll go to court and it will be new pick-up trucks all around!”
Unlike the Texas law, Idaho’s version has an exception for rape, but only if the victim files a police report and the rape is “proven”. If the rapist (and his family) dispute whether the rape occurred and the victim gets an abortion, they stand to collect $20 K each. Great law you have there, Idaho.
The Idaho law also contains a theoretical exception for medical emergencies, but the burden falls on the provider to prove that the abortion was medically necessary. Even then, the procedure is only deemed legal when it is necessary to avert death or “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.” Clearly, Idaho legislators are not medical professionals. “Substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” leads to death pretty much every time.
Legal rigamarole aside, Idaho Republicans are getting what they want. The state’s three abortion clinics said that when the law goes into effect, they will have to shut their doors.
Other states are boarding the “Right to Life” train. Missouri Republicans have introduced bills that would prohibit residents from traveling out of state to terminate a pregnancy and would force women to carry ectopic pregnancies that could kill them. Apparently, there aren’t a whole lot of medical professionals in that legislature either. Alabama is vigorously defending a law that allows district attorneys to cross-examine minors seeking an abortion without parental consent and allows judges to appoint a guardian to represent the fetus (Sorry, “preborn” child) in court. Alabama lawyers can legally represent a fetus but not a pregnant teen. That makes sense.
Idaho certainly “trumped” Texas when it came to abortion law. I shudder to think what some legislature might do to attempt to “trump” Idaho.
By Ed Dufton
