{"id":1675,"date":"2022-03-24T19:33:54","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T19:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linksus.net\/idaho-governor-calls-abortion-law-unwise-but-signs-it-anyway-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2022-03-24T19:33:54","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T19:33:54","slug":"idaho-governor-calls-abortion-law-unwise-but-signs-it-anyway-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/2022\/03\/24\/idaho-governor-calls-abortion-law-unwise-but-signs-it-anyway-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Idaho Governor Calls Abortion Law \u2018Unwise\u2019 but Signs It Anyway – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The law, modeled after one in Texas, bans abortions after about six weeks and allows some people \u2014 including relatives of rapists \u2014 to sue abortion providers.
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By <\/span>Mike Baker<\/a><\/span>
Gov. Brad Little of Idaho signed a strict new abortion bill into law on Wednesday, even as he expressed grave concerns about the wisdom and constitutionality of the measure and warned that it could retraumatize victims of sexual assault.
Modeled after a new law in Texas, the Idaho legislation bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy \u2014 before many women are aware they are pregnant \u2014 and allows family members of what it calls \u201ca preborn child\u201d to sue the abortion provider. Mr. Little, a Republican, said the law could conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, which established a constitutional right to abortion.
\u201cWhile I support the pro-life policy in this legislation, I fear the novel civil enforcement mechanism will in short order be proven both unconstitutional and unwise,\u201d Mr. Little wrote in a message to Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who is also president of the State Senate. The state attorney general\u2019s office had previously issued an opinion saying that the bill would effectively prohibit all abortions and that it would most likely be found unconstitutional.
Mr. Little warned that liberal states could embrace the same legal tactic to limit religious or firearm rights.
The governor, who is running for re-election this year and faces a far-right challenge from Ms. McGeachin, said he also had \u201csignificant concerns with the unintended consequences this legislation will have on victims of sexual assault.\u201d While the law makes limited exceptions for cases of rape \u2014 specifying, for example, that rapists cannot file lawsuits against abortion providers \u2014 it does allow their family members to file suit.
\u201cUltimately, this legislation risks retraumatizing victims by affording monetary incentives to wrongdoers and family members of rapists,\u201d Mr. Little wrote. He encouraged the Legislature, which is controlled by wide Republican majorities, to rectify any unintended consequences of the legislation.
Under the Roe decision, states cannot ban abortion before a fetus is viable outside the womb \u2014 typically after around 23 weeks. But in December, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks.
The court also declined to intervene to halt the Texas law, which allows any civilian to sue anyone who \u201caids or abets\u201d a woman in getting an abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks. The Idaho bill, which focuses on allowing family members to sue abortion providers, establishes a minimum award of $20,000 and legal fees. Lawsuits can be filed up to four years after an abortion.
Data shows that abortions in Texas have dropped 60 percent since the law took effect in September, while clinics in neighboring states have seen demand surge. Lawmakers in Oregon, which neighbors Idaho, recently approved $15 million to expand abortion access \u2014 money that could be used to pay expenses for people traveling to Oregon to obtain an abortion.
Opponents of the Idaho law mobilized over the weekend, urging Mr. Little to veto the measure. The law will go into effect in 30 days.
The most restrictive in the country. <\/strong>The Texas abortion law, known as Senate Bill 8,\u00a0amounts to a nearly complete ban on abortion in the state.<\/a>\u00a0It\u00a0prohibits most abortions after about six weeks and makes no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from incest or rape. The law has been in place since Sept. 1.<\/span>
Citizens have the power to enforce the law. <\/strong>The law <\/a>effectively deputizes ordinary citizens<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 including those from outside Texas \u2014 allowing them to sue those who violate the law. It awards them at least $10,000 per illegal abortion if they are successful. Patients cannot be sued, but doctors, staff and even a patient\u2019s Uber driver could become a defendant<\/a>.<\/span>
The aftermath. <\/strong>The number of abortions performed in Texas fell by roughly half in the weeks after the law went into effect<\/a>. Several suits, by abortion providers<\/a>\u00a0and the Justice Department<\/a>, were subsequently filed in response to the passing of the law.<\/span>
Challenges before the Supreme Court. <\/strong>The court declined to block the law twice, in September<\/a>\u00a0and October<\/a>. On Dec. 10, it allowed a challenge to the law to proceed, ruling that abortion providers may sue some state officials<\/a>\u00a0in federal court. That possibility was effectively shut down<\/a>\u00a0on March 11, when Texas Supreme Court justices\u00a0ruled\u00a0that those officials did not have any power to enforce the law, and so could not be sued.<\/span>
On Wednesday, Planned Parenthood, which operates clinics in the state, said its facilities would remain open and that it was considering a legal challenge to stop the law from going into effect.
\u201cThis law is unconstitutional, dangerous and an assault on the hundreds of thousands of Idahoans of reproductive age,\u201d said Jennifer M. Allen, the chief executive of Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates. \u201cThere is no excuse or justification for the trauma and harm this law will cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several other states are considering legislation based on the strategy taken by Texas and Idaho. Oklahoma\u2019s House of Representatives approved a similar measure on Tuesday but went even further, banning abortions at any point during pregnancy unless needed \u201cto save the life of the mother.\u201d
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AdvertisementSupported byThe law, modeled after one in Texas, bans abortions after about six weeks and allows some people \u2014 including relatives of rapists \u2014 to sue abortion providers.Send any friend a storyAs a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.By Mike BakerGov. Brad Little of Idaho […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":869,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1675"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1675\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}