Actions Taken On Women's Health-Related Legislation, Proposals In Idaho, Michigan, South Dakota

email to a friend

printer friendly

view / write opinions

rate article

Current Article Ratings:

Patient / Public:
Health Professional:		5 (1 votes)
Article Opinions:	0 posts

• Idaho: A bill introduced Monday in the House Health and Welfare Committee would make it a crime, punishable by up to five years in prison and $5,000, to coerce a woman into having an abortion, the AP/KIDK reports. Verbal threats intended to coerce a woman into having an abortion would be considered a misdemeanor under the bill. Rep. Bob Nonini (R) said the bill also would make it illegal for parents to threaten to kick a pregnant minor out of their house if she does not undergo an abortion. The bill will receive a full hearing in the committee, the AP/KIDK reports (AP/KIDK, 2/4).
  
  
• Michigan: The Board of State Canvassers on Monday approved language for a petition in support of a ballot initiative aimed at loosening restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, the Detroit Free Press reports (Bell, Detroit Free Press, 2/5). The proposed ballot initiative would change state law to allow researchers to conduct stem cell research using embryos created for fertility treatments that were not used or were unsuitable for implantation and would otherwise be discarded. The language specifies that the proposal does not seek to change the state's laws that prohibit and criminalize human cloning. Supporters of the proposal say the state's restrictions on embryonic stem cell research could cause the state to lose scientists and businesses. The Michigan Catholic Conference and Right to Life of Michigan oppose the proposal because it involves the destruction of human embryos. Supporters of the proposal need to collect more than 380,000 signatures from registered voters by July 7 for the proposal to appear on the November ballot (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 1/31).
  
  
• South Dakota: The Health and Welfare Committee voted 4-3 Monday to approve a bill (SB 164) that would amend a state law that allows pharmacists to refuse to dispense drugs that cause an abortion or assist in suicide to make clear that the law does not allow them to refuse to dispense contraception, the AP/Yankton Press & Dakotan reports. The law currently says pharmacists cannot be punished by employers or sued if they decline to fill a prescription that conflicts with their beliefs. The new bill would bar pharmacists from using this law to protect them if they refuse to dispense birth control. The bill now goes to the full Senate for debate. Sen. Ed Olson (R), the bill's sponsor, said he believes pharmacists should dispense birth control pills and other contraceptives. "I just think families need the ability, without interference, to plan for how many children they want," Olson said. Bob Riter, a lobbyist for the South Dakota Pharmacists Association, said that South Dakota pharmacists support the current law, adding that he is not aware of situations in which women have been unable to get birth control prescriptions filled (Brokaw, AP/Yankton Press & Dakotan, 2/4).