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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Doctor: No Idaho provider does elective abortions after 16 weeks, but bill flawed

Dr. Glenn Weyhrich, a Boise physician and head of OB/GYN at St. Luke's, told the Senate State Affairs Committee that to the best of his knowledge, there is currently no provider in Idaho who provides elective abortion beyond 16 weeks of gestation. Weyrich said most of his OB/GYN colleagues wouldn't oppose SB 1165 as a whole, but there are problems with "the way the bill is currently written." Among them: Inducing labor at 39 weeks - one week past the normal length of pregnancy - would appear to be banned by the bill unless it's specifically aimed at maximizing the outcome to the fetus, as opposed to the mother. That's a problem, he said. Also, he said the bill makes no exception for "lethal fetal anomalies" when the fetus will not survive outside the womb. "There are women who choose to continue those pregnancies to term," he said, but he said that should be their choice. "The way this bill is written now, those women would be obligated to continue those pregnancies to term."



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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