Anti-abortion bill paternalistic

“Woman, where are your accusers?” That question is posed by Jesus when he saves an adulterous woman from a public stoning under Mosaic Law. Her accusers leave, convicted by their own sins. Then, he tells her to go and sin no more, displaying love and mercy, not judgment, not condemnation.

Dan Foreman will never have an abortion. The senator is proposing a bill that will make abortion “first-degree murder” in Idaho, charging the female and her physician that performs the operation, except in cases where the mother’s life is endangered.

A paternalistic politician, Foreman pardons the male accomplice that impregnated the female. A novice lawmaker and zealot, Foreman overlooks the federal law that protects Americans’ confidentiality of treatment: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, better known as HIPAA. Based on two premises, privacy and confidentiality, protecting sensitive patient records, this law roadblocks the senator’s pipe dreams. His anti-abortion bill would waste legislative time and money, better served elsewhere.

Perhaps the senator should give generously to organizations like Planned Parenthood that provide contraceptive counseling and contraceptives under Title X, federal moneys that cannot be used for abortions, preventing unintended pregnancies and reducing abortions. What’s unclear?

Susan Hodgin

Moscow