'Fetal heartbeat' bill passes Idaho House

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Another abortion bill has made its way through the Idaho Legislature, and this time it’s even more restrictive than ever.

Two sides come into play: those who believe abortion is killing a child, and those who believe it is a woman’s choice to go through pregnancy or not. Many factors are in question here, like safe and unsafe abortion, viable fetuses, the matter of choice in a forced pregnancy, and the concept of actual murder.

“We wanna save baby lives,” said Rep. Steven Harris, the sponsor of the bill. “Unborn children have interest in life.”

Harris said he still wants to make abortion illegal in Idaho, something that is still unconstitutional since abortion is federally legal under Roe vs. Wade, and mentioned how everyone against abortion just has to wait for that case to be overturned.

The bill is a six-week abortion ban that makes abortions past six weeks illegal since it is around the time a heartbeat can be detected. Unfortunately, six weeks is only two weeks after a missed period, when some women may still not realize they are pregnant.

Another issue that arises with HB 366 is that it is unconstitutional for a ban to be placed that affects the viability standard, which is the potential of a fetus to survive outside the uterus after birth. When the fetus cannot survive at six or seven weeks like this bill is attempting to make happen, it would still reign unconstitutional under Roe vs. Wade.

What supporters of this bill are arguing is that it does not matter when the fetus is viable, it only matters when they can detect a heartbeat. They want the Supreme Court to answer the question of whether or not abortion should be illegal if there is a heartbeat.

The only way Idaho could restrict abortion laws is to place ruling on fetuses that are actually viable.

Democratic House leaders Rep. Ilana Rubel and Rep. Lauren Necochea have said these types of laws do not stop abortion, they only stop safe abortions. The pair said the legislation would create more unsafe abortions because people would find a way to do it regardless, hurting themselves in the process.

“We can look at global data between the number of abortions occurring and whether the procedure is legal,” said Necochea, referencing how making abortion illegal has not actually deterred abortions, just deterred sanitary, strictly medical ones.

Ultimately, the bill passed 53 - 16, and goes to the Senate.

Alexandra Duggan is an intern with the University of Idaho McClure Center for Public Policy Research and the UI JAMM News Service.