Abortion coercion bill moves

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BOISE, Idaho (AP) _ A bill making it a crime to violently coerce a woman into getting an abortion passed a House committee on Thursday.

The crime could be either a misdemeanor or a felony depending on whether the offense involved a threat or physical contact resulting in injury.

The House Health and Welfare Committee approved the measure after hearing from a number of abortion foes, as well as abortion rights groups. The bill now goes to the full House.

Abortion foes say the measure would help protect women from abuse.

Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene and a sponsor, said violent coercion is already illegal in Idaho but that state law specifies 15 different coercive actions that are outlawed to make sure that offenders face penalties under the law.

"It's illegal to coerce a woman to join a labor organization," he said, citing one example. "It's not illegal to coerce a woman into abortion."

The proposal defines coercion to be the use or threat of force, the use or threat of physical harm or nearly any other act calculated to harm a pregnant woman to provoke her into getting an abortion. It specifies civil liability along with criminal penalties.

Bill opponents said women should never be coerced into having an abortion but that the measure could interfere with women's reproductive rights by making abortion providers too vulnerable to civil and criminal penalties. They say abortion clinics would have to probe deeply into women's backgrounds to avoid liability.

"It imposes an undue burden on access to an abortion," said Burke Hays of Planned Parenthood of Idaho.

The possibility of a constitutional challenge to the bill underlies the debate. Hays estimated that Idaho has paid out close to $1 million in lawsuits over previous anti-abortion bills that have been struck down. The state spent about $750,000 over six years on a lawsuit that began in 2000 over a parental consent abortion law that was ultimately overturned.

Hannah Saona, legislative counsel of the ACLU of Idaho, said the state could probably expect a lawsuit from her group over the latest bill.

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