State Senator Seeks To Restrict Abortion Says Idaho’s Law Is Weak, Permissive; Will Propose Changes This Session

Idaho has been stuck with a “permissive, bad” abortion law since 1990 and the time is ripe to strengthen it, a state senator says.

“The time is right to bring this forward,” Sen. Stan Hawkins, R-Ucon, said Friday. He was interviewed for KTVB’s “Viewpoint” program to be telecast Sunday.

Hawkins said he’s going to propose “modest changes” in Idaho’s abortion statutes, although he may not personally introduce the legislation. For the first time, various religious groups have gotten together to work for stronger abortion laws, he said.

Hawkins voted for House Bill 625 in 1990. It cleared both chambers of the Idaho Legislature, and would have been the nation’s most restrictive abortion law. Then-Gov. Cecil Andrus vetoed the measure just hours after the session adjourned, precluding any effort at overriding the veto.

Hawkins said a companion bill, which was approved by Andrus, actually weakened state abortion laws, because it was expected that House Bill 625 also would be enacted.

The result, he said, is a weak, permissive law. “There are no provision to enforce it,” Hawkins said. “We took a giant step backward.”

He expects the Legislature to consider legislation to flatly ban partial-birth abortions. They are abortions performed as a fetus is in the birth canal. Health officials say only a few are performed in Idaho each year.

“It shouldn’t be used,” Hawkins said. “Other states are trying to deal with that and I think that’s what Idaho should do.”

Hawkins said groups such as the Idaho Family Forum, Idaho Christian Coalition and Idaho Right to Life are getting together on abortion legislation for the session that opens next month.

Hawkins said he will decide by the early days of the legislative session whether to give up his Idaho Senate seat and run for the Republican nomination in the 2nd Congressional District.

House Speaker Michael Simpson of Blackfoot has declared for the congressional race, and Hawkins has attacked Simpson for his vote against the 1990 abortion bill.