Idaho Doctors Debate over Proposition One
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – The debate over Proposition One is intensifying in Idaho – including in the medical community.
Groups of Idaho doctors issued competing letters this week over the measure.
Proposition One would “establish a right to make reproductive health care decisions, including abortion up to fetal viability and in medical emergencies.”
Much of the current debate centers around how late an abortion would be permitted.
Those promoting Proposition One define fetal viability as “the point in a pregnancy when the fetus has a significant likelihood of sustained survival outside of the uterus without extraordinary medical measures, as determined by a physician’s good faith medical judgment, based on the facts known at the time, and determined on a case-by-case basis.”
Based on that definition, fetal viability would be determined by the discretion of a doctor providing or referring for the procedure.
59 doctors urging a ‘No Vote’ on Proposition One describe this as “extreme and medically dangerous.”
“Currently, people think of and the law considers fetal viability between 21 and 24 weeks, and this redefines it to say that it’s only going to be if the baby can survive without any extraordinary measures like NICU care or anything,” said Idaho physician Dr. Shane Macaulay, who opposes Prop One. “But that means it moves abortions, allows them all the way up into the eighth month. And that’s now we’re talking about painful late-term abortions, which is far beyond what it most Idahoans would support.”
However, 300 other physicians signed a ‘Yes on Prop One’ letter stating that:
“Proposition One permits abortion only up to viability. Past viability, abortion remains banned, with an exception only for rare, medically necessary emergencies – cases determined by a doctor’s judgment, not a politician’s guess. Medical intervention to preserve a mother’s health later in pregnancy typically results in early delivery: not something considered an abortion by most people, but treated as an abortion under Idaho’s current ban.”
The two sides also disagree on whether Proposition One would eliminate Idaho’s parental consent laws. The ‘Yes on Prop One’ side states that “no physician or health care professional in this state provides healthcare to a minor without a parent or guardian’s permission and that will stay the same.” The ‘No on Prop One’ side saying the measure would create a right to privacy that would supersede existing state law requiring parental notification consent before a minor receives an abortion.
Finally, opponents say that Proposition One would change existing Idaho law requiring “physicians” to perform an abortion. Supporters of Proposition One say that a “health care provider” should be able to perform the procedure.
You can read the full text of Idaho’s current Defense of Life Act here.
You can read the full Proposition One text here.
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