Idaho on Monday became the first state to pass a copy of an unusual new Texas law that relies on ordinary citizens to enforce a ban on abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy to bypass legal disputes over its constitutionality.
The Republican-led Idaho House of Representatives approved Bill 51-14 and sent it to Gov. Brad Little. Mr. Little, a Republican, has already signed into law a separate abortion restriction bill passed last year.
The bill was the latest show of confidence from anti-abortion activists and legislators across the country. Both sides in the abortion debate expect that by the summer the Supreme Court will be able to strike down or reverse the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion.
According to Rowe, states cannot ban abortions before the fetus is viable outside the uterus, which with current medical technology is about 23 weeks pregnant. But six conservative judges appeared ready to overrule that decision when they heard oral arguments in December over a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The court also refused to intervene to stop the Texas law, which went into effect in September. On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court said it could not overturn the ban because the law expressly forbids state officials against whom the lawsuit is being filed from enforcing it.
On Monday, the sponsors of the Idaho bill said they were encouraged by the decisions.
“Texas’ smart, private course of action has paid off,” said Rep. Stephen Harris, co-sponsor of the bill in the Idaho House of Representatives. “It stopped physical abortions, chemical abortions in their tracks.”
To those who objected to the unconstitutionality of the bill, Mr. Harris noted that “Texas has already visited the Supreme Court twice.” And, he added, “abortion is still illegal in Texas.”
The Idaho bill differs from the Texas law in some key ways.
Texas allows any civilian to sue anyone, whether it’s a bus driver or a doctor who “helps or encourages” a woman to have an abortion after a fetal heart activity is detected, usually about six weeks – before many women know they’re pregnant. . . It provides $10,000 plus legal fees for successful claims. The Idaho bill, also called the “Heartbeat Bill,” allows family members of what the law calls an “unborn child” to sue an abortion provider and sets a reward of at least $20,000 plus legal fees. It allows lawsuits against medical professionals for up to four years after an abortion.
Texas law, considered the most stringent in the country, does not allow exceptions for women who are victims of rape or incest. The Idaho bill provides for an exception but requires women to file a police report and show it to a health care provider before they can have an abortion. None of the states will prosecute women who have an abortion.
Last year, shortly before Texas passed its law, the state of Idaho passed a law making it a crime to have an abortion after the discovery of fetal heart activity. But acknowledging that the law was likely unconstitutional, the legislators added a trigger saying it would not go into effect until an appellate court upheld a similar law in another state.
Idaho’s Republican Attorney General warned in his opinion this month that a new civil enforcement bill would also “likely be found to violate recognized constitutional rights.” He said it could also violate the separation of powers set out in the Idaho Constitution.
The governor opposes abortion and signed the trigger bill passed last year. If he signs a new bill allowing civil enforcement, it will take effect in 30 days.
The bill lists those who can sue as the mother, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles of the “preborn child”, and the father. It does not allow rapists to sue after an abortion.
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The strictest in the country. The Texas abortion law, known as Senate Bill No. 8, almost completely bans abortion in the state. It forbids most abortions after about six weeks and makes no exception for pregnancies resulting from incest or rape. The law has been in effect since September 1.
Representative Lauren Necochea, a Democrat who opposed the bill, asked ahead of Monday’s vote whether the rapist’s siblings could sue the abortion provider.
Mr. Harris, co-author, indicated that they could.
Ms Necochea said the exceptions for rape and incest “do not make sense.”
“This bill is not smart, it is absurd,” she said.
The data shows that the abortion rate in Texas has dropped by 60 percent since the law went into effect in September. At some clinics in neighboring states, demand for abortions has increased by 800 percent as women cross state lines for the procedure. One of those states, Oklahoma, is considering enforcing its own six-week ban.
“It’s appalling that someone can look at the chaos and harm that’s been happening in Texas over the past six months and think, ‘I want this for the people in my state,'” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Foundation.
Planned Parenthood said it would lobby the governor not to sign the bill.