By MELISSA WINTROW and ILANA RUBEL | Originally published in the Idaho Press Tribune
Women are second class citizens. That’s the message Sen. Chuck Winder and Rep. Scott Bedke are sending in their motion to reconsider Judge Winmill’s extremely narrow stay of Idaho’s abortion ban. The two legislators will pay out hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars solely to put the lives of women at dire risk if they have serious pregnancy complications.
Judge Winmill’s stay, issued Aug. 24, was extremely limited in scope. It applies only to emergency medical treatment in a hospital when a pregnant woman faces grave bodily harm unless she can have an abortion — harm such as amputation, paralysis, major damage to body organs, permanent infertility, life threatening infection and possibility of death. Federal law requires treatment in such cases, and Judge Winmill found that Idaho’s law unconstitutionally conflicts in those emergency circumstances. All other non-emergency abortions remain banned under his order.
Stunningly, Republican legislative leaders have vowed to fight this order, using out-of-state lawyers at $400 per hour. We believe they will lose, but heaven help us if they win. “Winning” here means that women face grave bodily harm, with any doctor risking 2-5 years in prison for providing an abortion to protect the woman’s health. The only defense is to prove that death was certain — avoiding a mere 50% chance of the woman’s death could leave the doctor imprisoned.
Taxpayers should not have to fund a legal effort whose sole aim is to deny women emergency medical care, potentially leaving them paralyzed or with loss of organ function. We are shocked that Bedke and Winder continue to argue a position that is legally and morally bankrupt — that women’s health does not merit protection.
The total abortion ban in question should never have been passed in the first place. It is an outrage that GOP legislators place so little value on women’s health that they are ready and eager to deny them critical emergency care. While they undoubtedly thought this law would never take effect due to Roe, the monster they created is now coming to life, and we should be grateful that the court blocked it from jeopardizing women’s lives. We certainly shouldn’t be trying to reverse that decision.
Bedke and Winder’s position is beyond the pale — fighting tooth and nail in court so that doctors face years in prison for performing abortions to avoid catastrophic harm to pregnant Idahoans. This is a level of extremism that should give pause even to the most fervent abortion opponent. In the hearing before Judge Winmill, the Legislature’s attorney acknowledged that the law as written criminalizes doctors even when they save a woman from an ectopic pregnancy. When confronted with the obvious concern that doctors won’t risk prison to perform medically necessary abortions, the lawyer’s comeback was that we shouldn’t worry because prosecutors probably won’t enforce the law.
Why are they so eager to make sure the judge’s allowance for emergency treatment gets reversed if they have no plan to enforce it?
It is unacceptable that our government, which is supposed to help and serve the people, is instead telling girls and women that their lives and health don’t matter and their bodies are just collateral damage. These legislators have the power and the moral obligation to end this litigation now. It’s time for them to take “No” for an answer.
We hope traditional Republican voters are taking note of the extent to which their party has left them. The federal law that Bedke and Winder are fighting against so hard was signed by Ronald Reagan. This is not your father’s Republican Party, and women are paying the price.