SUB-HEADING: "Over the years we have seen abortion bans, but not ones that
specifically equate abortion with homicide," Elizabeth Nash of the
Guttmacher Institute said in an email to Rewire."
GIST: "Pregnant people who receive abortion care and the doctors who perform the procedure would face first-degree murder charges under a forthcoming bill by a Republican lawmaker in Idaho. First-degree murder in Idaho carries a sentence of life imprisonment or death. Draft language for the bill isn’t yet available, but its author said the legislation would carve out a single exception to the murder charges in cases where pregnant people’s lives are endangered. “I don’t want to tell a woman what to do with her body, and neither should the government,” the bill’s author, Sen. Dan Foreman (R-Moscow), told the Lewiston Tribune. “But using that same logic, how can a woman tell her unborn child it has to die? Who represents the child? Idaho’s senate and house are under Republican control. The bill’s effort to charge someone who has a legal abortion with first-degree murder is an apparent first in the nation. “Over the years we have seen abortion bans, but not ones that specifically equate abortion with homicide,” Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute said in an email to Rewire. Oklahoma Republicans last year failed in their legislative attempt to charge abortion doctors with murder. The bill’s language exempted pregnant people from prosecution. Elsewhere, some prosecutors are twisting fetal homicide laws that are on the books to jail people whose pregnancies ended through their own actions—rather than by a third party committing a crime. These cases include Indiana’s Purvi Patel and Bei Bei Shuai, as Rewire’s Jessica Mason Pieklo has reported. The proposed Idaho bill is unlike these laws in that it would turn legal abortions into first-degree murder, and possibly sentence the provider and pregnant person to life in prison or the death penalty."
The entire story can be found at:
https://rewire.news/article/2017/01/12/abortion-care-will-be-first-degree-murder-idaho-if-this-gop-lawmaker-gets-his-way/
See Huffington Post for story on Pres. Donald Trump's signing of an anti-abortion executive order earlier today while surrounded mainly by men, at the link below..."On Monday, surrounded by other white men, President Donald Trump signed an anti-abortion executive order that has far-reaching consequences for women’s reproductive health access worldwide. Trump reinstated the Mexico City policy, also known as the global gag rule, which was first put in place by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. It prohibits giving U.S. funding to international nongovernmental organizations that offer or advise on a wide range of family planning and reproductive health options if they include abortion ― even if U.S. dollars are not specifically used for abortion-related services. The United States spends about $600 million a year on international assistance for family planning and reproductive health programs, making it possible for 27 million women and couples to access contraceptive services and supplies. None of that money is spent on performing abortions. The Helms amendment has prevented U.S. tax dollars from funding overseas abortions since 1973. Proponents of the global gag rule believe the policy is nevertheless still necessary, arguing that Helms isn’t strong enough by itself. The executive order is one of the first Trump has signed since taking office. Sitting in the Oval Office Monday, he also signed ones freezing federal hiring and withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. A pan of the people standing by his side showed that there were few, if any, women present. Trump’s executive order has severe implications and could be deadly for women and girls in developing countries and conflict zones, who often resort to dangerous methods of ending their pregnancies when they lack access to safe abortion. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 21 million women a year have unsafe abortions in developing countries, accounting for about 13 percent of all maternal deaths. The policy is rescinded and reinstated based on which party is in power. President Bill Clinton did away with it, President George W. Bush put it back and then President Barack Obama rescinded it again when he took office. Trump’s Cabinet is more white and more male than any president’s first Cabinet since Reagan."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-abortion-men_us_5886369be4b0e3a7356a7910
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/
