Committee introduced bill to regulate chemical abortions
BOISE — A bill introduced by Idaho lawmakers Thursday would require patients interested in receiving an abortion with the ingestion of prescribed drugs to receive an examination from a physician prior to being administered the drugs. In addition, the physician would have to make a reasonable effort to follow up with the patient following the procedure.
The bill was presented before the House State Affairs Committee Thursday and was granted a hearing following a party line vote, with the committee’s four Democrats voting against a hearing. Three of the 11 Republicans in the committee formally co-sponsored the bill.
House Bill 88, formally dubbed the “Physician Physical Presence and Women Protection Act,” would restrict physicians from prescribing drugs that induce abortion, such as mifepristone or misoprostol, without first counseling the patient and giving them an examination to determine if the abortion is “sufficiently safe.”
The patient’s physician would also be mandated to make an effort to ensure the patient returns to the clinic post-operation to “confirm that the pregnancy has been terminated and assess the patient’s medical condition.”
If passed, the bill will also give the patient, the patient’s husband at the time of the abortion, or the maternal grandparents of the patient should the patient die, the ability to pursue a civil suit against the physician who violated the bill’s provisions.
However, the bill clarifies “nothing in (the bill) shall be construed as creating or recognizing a right to abortion.”