Abortion pamphlets called misleading

BOISE – Booklets required to be handed out to women seeking an abortion in Idaho in accordance with a new law contain manipulative and misleading information, abortion rights groups say.

But an official with the state agency that produced the booklets said they are fair.

“We tried so hard to make this unbiased and to not insult one side or the other,” Jane Smith, chief of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s Bureau of Health Policy and Vital Statistics, told the Idaho Statesman. “To me, it’s as balanced an approach as we could do.”

The “informed consent” law requires nearly all women seeking to terminate a pregnancy in Idaho to receive three booklets and wait 24 hours before being allowed to undergo the procedure. It takes effect July 1.

Idaho has had an informed consent law since 1983, but the state attorney general deemed it unconstitutional because it allowed no exceptions for medical emergencies, a provision mandated by separate U.S. Supreme Court rulings. The new Idaho law includes such exceptions.

Anti-abortion advocates said the old law didn’t make sure women received the booklets. The new law penalizes health care providers who don’t provide the materials. Those opposed to abortion said the booklets allow a woman to make an informed choice.

The three booklets are “What You Should Know About Abortion,” “Fetal Development” and “Directory of Pregnancy and Child Health Services.”

Rebecca Poedy, president of Planned Parenthood of Idaho, said the new law doesn’t make exceptions on who must get the booklets.

“For a woman who has just been raped, I think it’s mean-spirited and it’s inappropriate to be showing her the development stages of a fetus,” Poedy said.

She also said the booklets emphasize the risks of abortion but not childbirth.

“Abortion is a very safe procedure,” Poedy said.

Kerry Uhlenkott, legislative coordinator for Right to Life of Idaho, said many women who have abortions in Idaho did not receive information first. Uhlenkott said some women afterward learned that the fetuses had developed organs and heartbeats, and that they might have made different choices if they had had that information.

In making the booklets, Smith said, the state avoided the more controversial issues that some other states include in their booklets.

One is an alleged link between abortion and breast cancer, an idea denounced by the American Cancer Society.

When the informed consent law was being debated this month in the Idaho House, Rep. Bill Sali, R-Kuna, an abortion opponent, insisted on discussing what he said is a link between abortion and breast cancer. House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, a breast cancer survivor, took offense, and she and the rest of the Democratic delegation left.

In 2004, there were 963 abortions performed in Idaho, Smith said.

That’s down from the 1,047 abortions in 1994, Smith said, even though the state’s population has increased.