Herndon's views are too extreme for Idaho

Imagine you are a young Idahoan who has been raped by an uncle and are now pregnant and traumatized. Your life is changed forever by what has many times been called "a fate worse than death." But you can't have an abortion: there is a law making that murder. The penalty for murder in Idaho is death or life in prison. For the life of me, I can't see what difference there is between your situation and that of an enslaved woman in pre-Civil War Virginia. 
Scott Herndon, God love him, wants to see this happen. He proposed this plank in Idaho's Republican Party Platform this summer:

“We affirm that abortion is murder from the moment of fertilization. All children should be protected regardless of the circumstances of conception, including persons conceived in rape and incest.”

The Idaho Republican Party adopted his plank, rejecting an amendment from another Republican providing for exceptions. No exceptions.

This is wrong. It's too extreme. Not only thoughtless and mean, it is bare-faced cruelty. The law is seldom absolute: justice comes through wisdom, and exceptions are recognition of that.

You can write-in Steve Johnson to serve as our District 1 state senator (instead of Herndon) on the Nov. 8 ballot. To register to vote, call 208-255-3631 for information. You can protect the lives of young Idahoans.

God loves Steve Johnson, too. God doesn't care about who wins, though I do believe God loves democracy and the freedom we have to vote.


NANCY GERTH

Sagle