Idaho Sen. Chuck Winder has landed in Garry Trudeaux's “Doonesbury” Web page “Say What?” feature. Dan Popkey/Idaho Statesman writes: “Winder, the sponsor of the stalled ultrasound mandate measure, Senate Bill 1387, is quoted in the comic strip's online “Say What?” feature. Winder's statement in Monday's Senate debate on the bill has made him an international object of derision. “I would hope that when a woman goes in to a physician with a rape issue, that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage, was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage or was it truly caused by a rape.” I spoke with Winder, R-Boise, on Thursday, who is chagrined by all the attention and saddened that it may have contributed to the sidetracking of his bill in the House. More here.

Question: At this point, what would you do if you were Chuck Winder?

I may be in error, but the legislative response of halting the proposed House hearing on the bill, now being reported by the national press, may well be a tactical time-out rather than a strategic stop. The national press will go home. And the Idaho House of Representatives will also prepare to go home … But my call is that prior to the close of the session the House will quickly take up the matter, pass it and let the Dem's in the House and Senate bear the weight of this bill at the polls. It will indeed be a case of political theater, but more accurately: a poltical theater of war/Dennis Mansfield. More here.

• Traffic police as Perry Mason?/Adam's Blog
• Respect for Sen. Nicole LeFavour/Idaho Conservative Blogger
• Tough sledding for Idaho 'Speaker' Brian Cronin/Dan Popkey
• Boomer Sioux-ners: Saudi Arabia of the Great Plains/Marc Johnson
• It's over when it's over/Randy Stapilus, Ridenbaugh Press
• Best left unsaid/Chris Carlson, Ridenbaugh Press

Question: Do you really think legislation requiring a pre-abortion ultrasound is dead for the year?

Statement of Hannah Brass, legislative director of Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest re: ultrasound demonstration scheduled in Idaho Legislature Wednesday: “Broadcasting an ultrasound isn’t testimony—it’s political theater. Tomorrow’s unprecedented ultrasound display at the Idaho statehouse has nothing to do with women's health or women's safety, but instead has everything to do with scoring political points. “This is a political stunt using women’s health as theater and women’s bodies as a stage. Politicians in Boise have no business playing politics with women's health in this way. “Forcing doctors to use ultrasounds for political, and not medical, reasons is the very definition of government intrusion.  Women who seek to terminate a pregnancy do so prior to 12 weeks gestation 90 percent of the time. An abdominal ultrasound would not provide the detail or the heart beat sounds required by law. (Idaho Legislature photo: Sen. Chuck Winder, bill sponsor)

Question: What do you think about the ultrasound demonstration planned for the Idaho Statehouse Wednesday?

The Senate has voted 23-12 in favor of SB 1387, the pre-abortion ultrasound requirement. Retiring Sen. Diane Bilyeu, D-Pocatello, rising to explain her vote, said, “You know, fellow senators, as a woman, and as a person of faith, this bill makes me want to cry. I want an end to abortion as well as all of you do, and I am totally opposed to abortion except in the case of rape, incest or the life of the mother. But I find this bill to be intrusive into my faith and it is punitive as a woman.  This senator votes no”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. And: How they voted.

• Closing debate: Winder compares abortion to U.S. war casualties
• Senate debate: 'An abdominal ultrasound would be limited'
• Hammond: Hope this bill isn't another litmus test to prove you're conservative
• Senate debate on ultrasound bill: 'Needed for women's rights & dignity'
• Senate takes up pre-abortion ultrasound bill

Question: Agree/disagree with the bill?

Bryan Fischer, the former Boise pastor now with the American Family Association, is making headlines again by attacking presidential candidate Herman Cain re: abortion statements. Dan Popkey/Idaho Statesman quotes Fisher from Michelle Goldberg in The Daily Beast. Writes Goldberg: “That could have come right out of the Planned Parenthood playbook,” Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association says of Cain’s comments. “To us, it’s like somebody saying, ‘I’m personally opposed to gassing Jews, but if you want to do that I’m not going to stand in your way.” You can read more from Popkey here.

Question: What do you make of Herman Cain's abortion stand?

The latest national Gallup poll on social attitudes reports a new number one issue that most divides the American public. For years the issue has been abortion. Today it is physician assisted suicide (PAS). While 48 percent of the respondents said the matter was “morally objectionable all the time,” some 45 percent said it could be morally acceptable. The issue has gained sufficient attention that the nation’s Catholic bishops finally issued a policy statement deploring its increased public acceptance at their annual summer meeting in June in Bellevue, Washington/Chris Carlson, The Carlson Report. More here.

Question: Which issue is more important to you — abortion or assisted suicide?

With hours to go before a threatened U.S. government shutdown, Republican and Democratic leaders remained deadlocked over federal support for Planned Parenthood and other spending as they narrowed their differences over the size of proposed budget cuts. President Barack Obama called on lawmakers to reach a last- minute deal to avert a government shutdown today. Democratic officials said a dispute over financing for Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions among other services, was preventing an agreement over more than $30 billion in overall spending cuts/San Francisco Chronicle. More here.  (AP photo: House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, left, accompanied by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington Thursday)
  

Question: Do you believe the federal government will shut down today?

The bill makes no exceptions for rape, incest, severe fetal abnormality or the mental or psychological health of the mother; only when the pregnancy threatens the mother's life or physical health could a post-20-week abortion be performed. An Idaho Attorney General's opinion said the bill is unconstitutional because it violates the Roe vs. Wade decision regarding state restrictions on abortions prior to the point of fetal viability; but backers said they're prepared to defend it in court. “Is not the child of that rape or incest also a victim?” asked Rep. Shannon McMillan (pictured), R-Silverton. “It didn't ask to be here. It was here under violent circumstances perhaps, but that was through no fault of its own”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: Do you support this bill?

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”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: According to a tweet from S.L. Fisher (who was listening to State Affairs discussion), lawsuits filed against unconstitutional anti-abortion legislation has cost Idaho $4.1M. Should Idaho pass legislation simply to make a statement re: its stand on abortion?

Allred tried to toe the line between the partisan divide on some policy issues.  When asked about civil unions for gays and lesbians, he said that their rights should be honored and protected, but didn’t call for overturning the state’s constitutional amendment against same sex marriage.  On abortion, he said the practice isn’t an appropriate form of birth control, but that it should be allowed in rare instances, including rape, incest, and threat to a woman’s health. The Democratic candidate levied some attacks at the Republican Party and at the governor.  He said the GOP platform took party extremism to whole new levels and that some of its proposals, including a repeal of the 17^th Amendment and transition back to using gold and silver, ideas that would take Idaho 100 years into the past/Brad Iverson-Long, Idaho Reporter. More here.

Question: Do you agree with Allred’s approach to social issues?

Rep. Steve Kren, R-Nampa, proposes legislation to ban abortions based on reasons of race or gender.

Rep. Steve Kren, R-Nampa, presented legislation to the House State Affairs Committee this morning to ban abortions for reasons of gender or race; the committee voted 12-5 along party lines to introduce the bill, though several members raised questions about the wording and legal implications of the bill. More here. Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise

What do you think about Kren’s proposed legislation?

Item: Pro-life leaders denounce murder of abortion doctor George Tiller/FoxNews.com

Bryan Fischer/Idaho Values Alliance: As much as we can understand the energy generated by the heinous nature of Tiller’s crimes, Christians cannot be true to the Scriptures and sanction the bombing of abortion clinics or the murder of abortionists. The answer to homicidal violence, in other words, is not more homicidal violence. The solution rather is for the pro-life community to work ceaselessly for legal and judicial reform so that the monstrous things Tiller did under color of law become unthinkable once again. The place to begin, certainly, is to use our influence to see that the next Supreme Court justice understands that the primary purpose of the legal system is to protect the unalienable right to life. More here.

• Fischer to join American Family Association/IVA
• Monday 6.1/Unequivocal Notion
• Risch and the Middle East/Randy Stapilus, Ridenbaugh Press
• Crapo takes a bold — and politically risky — stand for salmon/Kevin Richert 
• The woman who could topple Otter/Adam’s Blog

Question: Do you think the strong denouncements of George Tiller’s murder by pro-life groups are sincere?