Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, said he's now read HB 28, the legislation from Rep. Leon Smith, R-Twin Falls, to amend Idaho's "conscience law" to protect living wills. "I have read it and read it again," Loertscher said. But he still hasn't decided whether to allow a hearing on the bill; if he doesn't, it dies.

"There's another piece of legislation that may be coming on the same subject," Loertscher told Eye on Boise today. He said he wants to see that alternative bill "before we proceed." Anti-abortion groups including Idaho Chooses Life and the Cornerstone Institute are working on that one, he said.

The original conscience law, of which Loertscher was a co-sponsor, was aimed at letting health care providers decline to provide any service that violates their conscience; it's located in the part of Idaho's state code regarding crimes relating to abortions, and mainly deals with abortion and emergency contraception issues. But it also covers anything regarding “end of life care.” Smith, an attorney, says the law as-is allows providers to violate patients' living wills and advance-care directives that say what kinds of care they wish to receive, and not receive, when they are dying; his bill would ensure those directives aren't violated due to the conscience law.