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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Party-line vote passes 20-week abortion ban in House committee

House State Affairs Committee members hear testimony on Wednesday morning on SB 1165, to ban abortion after 20 weeks on grounds of fetal pain. The bill passed the committee on a straight party-line vote, with Republican members voting yes and Democratic members voting no. (Betsy Russell)
House State Affairs Committee members hear testimony on Wednesday morning on SB 1165, to ban abortion after 20 weeks on grounds of fetal pain. The bill passed the committee on a straight party-line vote, with Republican members voting yes and Democratic members voting no. (Betsy Russell)

The House State Affairs Committee has voted along party lines to pass SB 1165, the 20-week abortion ban, sending it to the House with a recommendation that it "do pass." Rep. Carlos Bilbao, R-Emmett, said, "Anyone, anyone who denies the existence of life at the beginning is wrong in mind. And when it comes to a standard that the courts say, my standard is life, my standard is what God gave me to make a right choice, and I'll make the right choice today."

The four Democrats on the committee opposed the bill. "There are a litany of things that cause me a little bit of concern," said Rep. Cherie Buckner-Webb, D-Boise, from classifying induction of labor as abortion to criminalizing physicians. "Bottom line, it's unconstitutional," she said. The bill earlier passed the Senate.



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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