This editorial was published by the Lewiston Tribune and written by Tribune Opinion page editor Marty Trillhaase.
If you expect Idaho lawmakers to ride to the rescue of in vitro fertilization procedures in the Gem State, think again.
That’s not to say some won’t try. In the wake of Idaho’s abortion ban and an Alabama Supreme Court ruling extending personhood rights to frozen embryos, House Health and Welfare Committee Chairperson John Vander Woude, R-Nampa, and Rep. Brook Greene, D-Boise, have pledged to act.
“We definitely feel like something needs to be done in that area,” Vander Woude told The Idaho Statesman.
But to get there, a lot of Idaho Republicans are going to have to twist themselves into a pretzel.
For instance, how do they get around their own voting records promoting the adage that life begins at conception?
Such was the case about a decade ago when overwhelming majorities approved a “freedom of conscience” bill that, among other things, declared essentially that the destruction of a “developing human life from fertilization until the end of the eighth week of gestation” constituted an abortion?
Among those still around who voted for it are Congressman Russ Fulcher; Attorney General Raul Labrador; Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise; Sen. Phil Hart, R-Kellogg; House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star; House State Affairs Committee Chairperson Brent Crane, R-Nampa; House Transportation Committee Chairperson Joe Palmer, R-Meridian; and Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale.
By the way, Idaho’s delegation in the House of Representatives shares the same history.
In 2017, then-Congressman Labrador was among 150 co-sponsors of the Life at Conception Act championed by future House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
Two years later, Fulcher did the same thing — along with Washington Republicans Dan Newhouse and Cathy McMorris Rodgers.
In 2021, Idaho Republican Mike Simpson joined them in co-sponsoring the measure.
As of now, Simpson and McMorris Rodgers are co-sponsors of the current version.
Even if they — and the GOP lawmakers who have followed them — were of a mind to flip-flop when it comes to embryos that are frozen and then later discarded, would the Idaho Republican Party not attempt to thwart them?
Here’s what Chairperson Dorothy Moon’s GOP platform has to say about it:
“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. ...
“We support the criminalization of all murders by abortion within the state’s jurisdiction. We also support strengthening the Idaho Constitution’s declaration of the right to life for preborn children.”
And what about the anti-abortion rights movement that remains a potent force with the GOP base?
Its members weren’t unhappy with the Alabama decision. Far from it.
“This ruling, which involved a wrongful-death claim brought by parents against a fertility clinic that negligently caused the death of their children, rightly acknowledged the humanity of unborn children created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) and is an important step towards applying equal protection for all,” said Lila Rose, president and founder of Live Action.
“This decision is a step in the right direction toward ensuring that all pre-born children are equally protected under the law,” Americans United for Life policy counsel Danielle Pimentel said.
Even if they managed to traverse the politics, what about the hypocrisy?
As of now, this is a Legislature that has refused to move on a health exception to the state’s abortion ban — even though women in crisis pregnancies are suffering, physicians are leaving the state and hospital maternity units are shutting down.
How do you explain preserving the health care options of — let’s face it — prosperous families?
According to Forbes magazine, a single IVF cycle can cost $15,000 to $30,000. And many patients go through several cycles before conceiving.
How do you square an exception for wealthy women while Idaho women of modest means are told they cannot decide when or if to have children?
And what is the difference — to someone who believes life begins at conception — between an embryo that is discarded outside the womb and one that does not implant in the womb because of hormonal contraception?
Given the political blowback from the Alabama court decision, political pretzel-making may be in the wind in Boise.
But don’t count on it. So far, everything Idaho’s GOP leadership has done is consistent with outlawing IVF, not preserving it. — M.T.
