Abortion Consent Bill Vetoed Governor Says Measure Would Do More Harm Than Good

Convinced it could do more harm than good, Gov. Phil Batt on Monday vetoed a requirement that minors obtain parental consent or judicial approval before obtaining an abortion.

“I do not know how many abortions would be prevented in Idaho by this bill,” the retiring Republican chief executive said, citing constitutional questions raised by Idaho’s attorney general about the bill.

“I believe the number of women dissuaded would be small and those young women would be among the least prepared for motherhood and that the children would likely receive woefully inadequate parenting,” he said.

Batt’s action came two weeks after he underscored his own opposition to abortion by approving a legally challenged abortion procedure ban. Idaho already has among the most stringent abortion laws in the nation.

Jen Ray of the Idaho Women’s Network said Batt’s decision proved the “checks and balances of our system which come into play when an issue is railroaded.

“He obviously was paying attention to common sense,” Ray said. “He read the bill.”

The anti-abortion movement is now threatening retaliation at the polls.

“This now becomes an issue that will not quietly go into a sunset for 1998,” said Denis Mansfield, founder of the Idaho Family Forum.

David Ripley, the once-ardent pro-choice activist turned zealous anti-abortionist who founded Idaho Chooses Life PAC, came right to the point.

“Such a lack of faithfulness to the Republican Party’s pro-life platform will mean trouble for the party and its candidates in coming months,” he said. “Pro life voters, who have taken Republicans at their word, will surely express their disappointment in an appropriate manner.”

Batt said, however, that despite his veto the GOP has historically been linked to the anti-abortion view and “I really don’t see it being very injurious to the party at this point, if at all.”

It was the final bill handled by lawmakers during the 1998 session, and the grudging refusal by both Senate leaders and anti-abortion activists to compromise delayed adjournment for a day. The fiasco that surrounded its passage left a pall of ill feeling over departing lawmakers.

Anti-abortion forces claimed the compromise failed to go far enough in checking adolescent abortions while Senate leaders, aggravated by the demanding tactics of the proponents, wanted to strip away the most objectionable provisions of the proposal pushed through the House.

Critics of the bill in any form, promising a court challenge, claimed it failed to protect victims of incest in rural areas and homeless teenagers and was drafted behind closed doors without adequate expert medical advice.

While advocates said it was important to get parents involved in such a major decision, opponents pointed out that 95 percent of minors seeking abortions are already accompanied by parents so that the bill simply imposes an undue burden on what they call the most vulnerable 5 percent of troubled young women.

Batt cited the fact that Idaho’s teen pregnancy rate is half the national average and the state’s teen abortion rate is barely a quarter of the rate nationwide.

“We are not perfect, but we are doing a good job of preventing both of these situations,” he said. “I do not believe further stigmatizing young women caught up in desperate circumstances would materially affect our declining abortion rate nor would it be in the best interest of Idaho.”

The compromise allows doctors to perform abortions on minors if their health - as well as their life - was seriously endangered. The Family Forum and other groups wanted that emergency exception limited to a threat to the girl’s life.

It limits seeking a judge’s approval when parental consent is not feasible to the judicial district the minor lives in. The Senate had pushed for allowing any judge in the state to handle those cases.

It adds two more reporting requirements for doctors performing abortions. Anti-abortion forces wanted substantially more detailed reporting mandates. The Senate wanted nothing added to existing requirement.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: THE BILL The abortion bill vetoed by Gov. Phil Batt on Monday would have: Required minors to have a parent’s written consent to get an abortion. Required all women seeking abortions to provide government-sanctioned identification showing their age. Stiffened reporting requirements for doctors who perform abortions.