Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 23, 1990 TAG: 9003231909
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOISE, IDAHO LENGTH: Medium
If signed by Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus, the measure would take effect July 1. Andrus has declined to announce his intentions on the bill but has reiterated his long-held anti-abortion stand.
"Abortion in my opinion is cruel and unusual punishment," Republican Sen. Roger Madsen, the Boise attorney who helped draft the legislation, told the Senate before the 25-17 vote.
"It is the destruction of life, and what can we say about the future of our society when defenseless victims are destroyed for the convenience of personal choice?" Madsen said.
The law would make abortion illegal except in cases of non-statutory rape reported within seven days, incest if the victim is younger than 18, severe fetal deformity or a threat to the mother's life or physical health.
An abortion would be illegal in the case of statutory rape, or sex with a minor, on grounds that such behavior implies consent on the part of the female, said Sen. Claire Weatherell, a supporter of the bill.
Both sides agree the law would ban more than 90 percent of the 1,500 abortions performed in Idaho each year.
Anti-abortion forces had already begun focusing their lobbying effort on Andrus.
"We don't intend to quit," said Sally Trott of Freedom Means Choice, citing polls that indicate Idahoans may oppose abortion but are more opposed to government intervention in their lives.
The bill was patterned on a National Right to Life Committee model that has been rejected by other states as too restrictive. But it is the version that abortion foes want for the test of the Supreme Court's commitment to its 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
Some constitutional experts have warned that the bill is so restrictive it likely would not withstand the high court's scrutiny, and could cost the state as much as $1 million to defend.
Abortion opponents maintained the issue was whether Idaho would lead the nation in protecting the lives of the unborn.
"We know it will be struck down" in the lower courts, said Kerry Uhlenkott of Right To Life of Idaho. "That's what we want. The Supreme Court justices have invited us to challenge Roe vs. Wade."
The legislation cleared the House 13 days ago.
Abortion-rights senators labeled the bill a draconian product of an out-of-state organization pushing its own agenda, not Idaho's.
by CNB