Twenty-Week Abortion Bans Pass Idaho Senate Panel, Stall In Iowa, Are Too Graphic for Arkansas

Three states are having three very different reactions to the "fetal pain" bills being proposed in their legislatures.

Multiple states have either proposed or passed 20 week abortion bans based on the erroneous belief that fetuses can feel pain at that point. But for three states contemplating the “fetal pain” bans in their states, the results are drastically different.

An Idaho senate panel voted today to pass the ban, even though high level state officials have already admitted the bill is probably unconstitutional.  Via MSN Business News:

Over the last decade, Idaho has spent more than $730,000 to defend restrictive abortion laws that were stricken down by the courts. Those costly rulings have prompted Idaho’s legislative leaders in recent years to require that abortion-related legislation be reviewed by the Idaho attorney general’s office.

Last month, the Idaho attorney general told Winder that modifications would likely be required for his measure to pass constitutional muster.

The measure is “unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution insofar as it proscribes some non-therapeutic abortions even before a fetus has reached viability,” wrote Steven Olsen, the chief of the agency’s civil litigation division.

Iowa’s 20 week ban has stalled because of a schism between anti-choice activists who want the ban to pass, and more zealous advocates who want nothing short of an all out abortion ban.  Fox News reports:

Anti-abortion activists are pressing Iowa lawmakers to approve new restrictions on late-term terminations during this year’s session, in a debate that has been elevated by plans to open a new abortion clinic in the state.

The measure, which is in a House committee, would ban most abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy unless a doctor declared a medical emergency. That stalled in one committee because some anti-abortion activists want a measure that would virtually end all abortions in the state.

During a Statehouse news conference on Wednesday, Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition lobbyist Norman Pawlewski said he’s been trying to convince the other activists to accept the late-term restrictions but hasn’t had any success. He said he’s worried that the division among the ranks could mean nothing will happen.

“There’s no mystery,” said Pawlewski. “There are some legislators who have gotten in the way.”

The ban is being moved to new committee where it may be debated next week.

And in Arkansas, their own discussion of the 20 week ban has been blocked for now because the photos being used in the sponsor’s presentation were deemed “too graphic.”

Via KATV.com:

A state lawmaker wants to make having an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy illegal and he says he’s hitting an unfair hurdle before he can even make his pitch.

Andy Mayberry has a bill headed to the House Committee of Public Health Thursday, but they are already critiquing the presentation.

Representative Mayberry has complied pictures and a National Geographic video of a fetus at different stages of development.

Days before his presentation he was asked to hand it over for review. “I kind of look at this as a football coach being asked to turn over his playbook before hand and let somebody pick and choose which plays you can use.”

The power point presentation template was ruled objectionable.

Add to this the Georgia 20 week ban that was shelved because some anti-abortion politicians got over eager and tried to shut down all abortion clinics as part of the bill, and it seem that many of the bans supporters are causing more roadblocks than their opposition.