Idaho Senate panel rejects Texas-modeled abortion law

BOISE (AP) — A Senate panel on Monday rejected a proposed law modeled after a Texas law that would have outlawed nearly all abortions in conservative Idaho by banning them as soon as fetal heartbeats are detectable.

Backers said that a revised version of the bill will be brought before lawmakers later in the current legislative session.

Idaho already has two anti-abortion laws, but they need favorable federal court rulings to become active.

The new proposal sought to amend one of those laws to make it active now by allowing family members to sue doctors who performed abortions after fetal heartbeats are detected.

Fetal cardiac activity can be detected as early as six weeks, before many women discover they are pregnant.

The Senate State Affairs Committee deadlocked 4-4, which killed the bill.

Like the Texas law, it would have created a private enforcement mechanism allowing civil lawsuits against abortion providers. Unlike the Texas law, the Idaho law limited the legal standing to sue to family members and not to the general public.

Idaho lawmakers opposing the plan said it conflicted with existing state laws that focus on health and welfare, and custody.

“As I look at aunts and uncles, no matter how tangential that relationship is, that someone could come in and have standing, is a difficult piece for me,” said Republican Sen. Abby Lee, noting she was against abortion but couldn’t support the bill.

She added: “I think it’s early enough in the session that we need to get this right. That this is not about just modeling legislation to put something on the books.”

Democratic Sen. Grant Burgoyne questioned whether possible fathers involving in unmarried couples would be allowed to sue.

“With respect to the gray areas in that law, what will be the import of legislation on those issues?” he said.

Blaine Conzatti, president of the Idaho Family Policy Center group that is against abortions, presented the bill to lawmakers. In a text message to The Associated Press after the vote, he said he would try to introduce a revised version later this session.

“This legislation follows in the footsteps of the winning strategy pioneered by Texas, where 19,000 preborn lives have been saved in the last few months alone,” Conzatti said. “Therefore, we will keep pushing to move this legislation forward so that preborn babies with beating hearts are protected in Idaho.”

Conzatti didn’t offer specifics on the possible revisions.

Idaho has two anti-abortion laws. One passed in 2020, bans all abortions except in cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother. That law would take effect in Idaho 30 days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe V. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that declared a nationwide right to abortion.

The court has a 6-3 conservative majority, and it’s possible the court will overturn Roe V. Wade in a decision expected this summer. That would revert regulation of abortions back to the states and trigger the 2020 Idaho law to go into force.

More than 20 states already have laws on the books to ban or dramatically restrict abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

But Conzatti said the Idaho law could face a lengthy challenge in state courts, so the legislation he proposed could act as a way to stop abortions sooner.

The law his bill sought to amend is Idaho’s other anti-abortion law, the “fetal heartbeat” law passed in 2021.

It is not in effect because, like the 2020 law, it contains a “trigger provision” and will not go into effect unless a federal appeals court somewhere in the country upholds similar legislation from another state. That trigger hasn’t so far been tripped.