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Posts published in “Schmidt”

Dice

It had to come to this.

Abortion is just one facet of the procreation die (singular for dice).

Infertility is another. And for many, mostly women, procreation does become a dicey endeavor.

So now, with a righteous Alabama Supreme Court opinion, this discussion might actually come into the open.

Us medical professionals have found living in the gray area of personhood profitable. Some, though truthfully, it was just a few practitioners, made money performing abortions. Some might have found some moral duty therein, even though the Hippocratic oath forbids abortion.

The line for abortion used to be “quickening”. Read The Cider House Rules, and you’ll learn the meaning of the question asked of the young pregnant woman, “Are you quick?”

For when the growing fetus’ movement was felt, and that was the line called “quickening”, an abortion was not considered proper. Before becoming quick, it was her decision, mainly.

The law didn’t enter into it in colonial times. There was community shame and derision and family pressure, but the law stayed out of this realm.

But in the mid 1800’s the medical profession lobbied state legislatures to make abortion illegal. You see, midwives, lay health providers did this procedure, since medical professionals were forbidden by oath. And doctors got paid to deliver babies. Maybe I’m cynical, but “follow the money” is good advice when considering what laws get passed.

So, most states outlawed abortion. Then the US Supreme Court handed down the Roe Decision. The line drawn by those justices was “viability”. When the fetus can survive outside of the mother, it is no longer her choice. Before, it is.

Viability comes at about 24 weeks of gestation.

Quickening comes usually about 16-20 weeks. These lines when the control of the decision shifts was very similar.

But now that Roe is no longer the law, and we’re back to state legislatures arbitrating, not only ending a pregnancy, but the decision to try to start one might move into the hands of lawmakers, not mothers, or families.

Because there are some real issues with infertility care that might make one cringe. Might make one consider passing legislation.

Say a woman is young and not ovulating. She and her partner want to conceive. The medical and pharmaceutical industries have wonderful drugs that can stimulate ovulation. They are inexpensive and convenient, though often unpleasant.

And now she gets pregnant. But she has a multiple.

The best chance for having a viable, healthy pregnancy is to deliver just one baby. The odds go down a bit with twins and drop off rapidly thereafter.

If she has five growing embryos, the odds are against any surviving. And the risk to the mother, should she choose to continue the pregnancy also goes up.

Selective reduction is the term used for this medical procedure. Some of the multiples are “reduced” so that some might survive.

A family wanted a baby. The doctor’s advice about the best odds for getting one might come down to sacrificing others.

Before Roe was overturned, the medical profession, mainly infertility specialists, had the freedom to discuss these very painful decisions with their patients. Not now. Especially under Idaho law. I’ll bet a lot of those OB Gyns fleeing our state practiced infertility care.

Where will Idaho infertility be treated?

And we haven’t even started talking about in vitro fertilization (IVF). That’s what got the Alabama Supreme Court going.

I could try to explain IVF in twenty words or less here, but let it just be said that technology may be miraculous. But with such power comes the need for wisdom.

Every medical and pharmaceutical intervention has odds of risk and cost or benefit. Do you want to roll the dice? If it’s an infertility gamble, you might have to leave Idaho.

 

Help

I always tried to help my patients. That didn’t mean always giving them what they wanted. I was trained to look to the goal of health.

And then there is the law. It seems the doctor patient relationship is in the Idaho legislature’s crosshairs. No wonder so many physicians are finding this state unwelcoming.

We must accept that there is evil amongst us. And we must be vigilant and loving.

Parents and relatives are not always kind. I have not always been kind. Please forgive me for this.

Parents and relatives can be evil. We must be vigilant.

If you don’t think the Idaho legislature accepts this, then you should watch the incredible Idaho Senate floor debate of February 27th, 2024.

The Senate session starts with the Majority leader asking his colleagues to support removing the statute of limitations for incest. It turns out, Idaho code had not included that crime when it specified which crimes were exempt from limitations from prosecution through time. His very moving testimony described a prosecutor that came to him, told him of a case of incest where revelations expanded the perpetrators, but prosecution could not proceed because of this flaw in the law. His colleagues agreed and this bill passed unanimously.

So, Idaho Senators can understand that incest occurs and should be prosecuted. They know there is evil and are doing their best to help our state laws deal with it.

But then, the tables turn.

On that same day, in those same Senate Chambers a couple hours later a different bill came up. The Senate Majority leader was the sponsor for this one also.

This bill would prohibit any treatment, counseling, procedure on a minor patient (under 18) without the parents’ consent. Further, all medical records of the minor child would be available to the parents for their review. The exceptions to this would require a court order, or a law enforcement request to deny the parents’ access.

Here he argued that parents are the best stewards of a child’s wellbeing. Just a couple hours earlier he was arguing for removing the limitations on prosecuting incest.

So, parents or relatives who sexually abuse a child should not escape prosecution. But a child cannot confide confidentially to a health care provider. They must first go to law enforcement or the courts.

It seems we need to be teaching the Idaho laws in middle school, maybe grade school. Police are your friends, not doctors.

Health care providers, counsellors, teachers, ministers are “required reporters”. Idaho law has that clearly defined. If there has been an allegation or a suspicion of abuse, these professionals are required to report such to law enforcement, under penalty of prosecution. So, we have these crosshairs on us already.

But just imagine.

I am in an exam room with a 15-year-old who seems distressed. I discuss their situation with them. Their mother is in the waiting room. The teen shares their worries with me. I ask them, “Have you talked with your parents about this?” They shake their head. “Is there anything more I need to know?”

They look at me, wondering just whose side I am on. Wondering, who will I be talking to.

My standard response was to always encourage communication with their parents. But I outlined the limits of just what could be kept confidential. I tried to help.

With this law, those limits of confidentiality will now significantly shift.

I guess it comes down to just what you see as the role of government. Do our laws protect the weak and powerless from abuse or enforce the authority of the powerful?

I think it’s pretty clear which side of this scale the Idaho legislature is placing their thumb.

 

Immigrants

The Idaho Republican Party is doing its best to keep all immigrants out. And I don’t mean the Border Wall, Shelby Park border fight. I mean you and me.

Well, maybe not me.

You see, I am a registered Idaho Democrat. And I can’t defect. Well, I could, but it would have consequences.

Let me explain.

I have been appointed to serve on a Board that requires partisan balance. The Redistricting Commission I served on back in 2021 required I be a Democrat. We had equal, bipartisan representation. Bring your gerrymandering gripes to me.

And the Health and Welfare Board where I currently serve, requires that there be three members from the minority party, four from the majority. I’m in the minority.

So, you see, I can’t just switch party affiliation, willy nilly. I can’t try to immigrate to the party where my next idiotic legislative representatives will be chosen. No, I have to stay in this measly mess of insignificance. As an Idaho Democrat, I know my place.

But most Idaho Democrats can. And most Idaho Democrats in districts where it might make a difference just got the mailing I did.

The nondescript mass mailing came to my wife and me, both of us registered Idaho Democrats. My daughter got one too. The mailing told us how to register in the Republican Party so we might have some say in the upcoming primary election. They didn’t want to spell it out, but I will for you.

Do you insignificant Idaho Democrats want any say in who represents you in the Idaho legislature? Because, if you do, the Republican primary this May is where you will have a choice. You can support a moderate Republican, or a crazy Republican. Because your Democratic candidate ain’t got a chance come November.

That was how this county was represented for many years. I got my introduction to Idaho politics in the 1980’s and 90’s. Back then, before the Treasure Valley boomed, my county was a legislative district. When I first got elected to the legislature in 2010, I represented Latah County. But Boise boomed and we needed to combine with Benewah in 2012. Redistricting.

But Latah County had mostly Republican legislators back in the 80’s and 90’s. It was wise to vote for Republicans because they could get seniority, maybe become a committee chair, maybe get into majority leadership. You need to know that Latah County voters have been playing this partisan game for years.

Back then, voters could go to the primary election and choose a Republican ballot. Heck, I really liked some of those Republicans. And I’d vote for them. In the general. I didn’t do the primary switch.

But now that option isn’t informal. Now, if you want to vote in the Republican primary you will need to be a registered Republican. Some idiot Federal Judge decided the Idaho Republican Party’s right of free association trumped the Idaho Constitution.

Yeah. If you want to vote in the Republican primary, you have to register. That’s a public record.

Wait a minute.

The Idaho Constitution says, Article 6, Section 1:

SECRET BALLOT GUARANTEED. 

All elections by the people must be by ballot. An absolutely secret ballot is hereby guaranteed, and it shall be the duty of the legislature to enact such laws as shall carry this section into effect.

How is it an absolutely secret ballot when my registering as a Republican is public record?

Oh, well. I won’t be registering Republican for this May’s primary.

Maybe I should. Then I would get kicked off the H&W Board and I’d have standing to sue the state for not following their own constitution.

Aw heck, I like where I am. I don’t want to be no immigrant.

 

Numbers

Nobody roused a crowd talking about numbers. Images stir us. Just look at TikTok. But the numbers tell the truth. Maybe we just don’t want to know the truth.

The brouhaha about how Idaho’s budget committee (Joint Finance and Appropriations =JFAC) is deciding to spend taxpayers’ dollars needs a specific example for you to understand the folly.

It’s about numbers, not dead fetuses, or freedom, so you might not care. But that’s how this country has become the swamp it is. Us common folk don’t often pay attention to the numbers. Rich folk do. And so, they are rich. We all should do better.

Let’s drill down on the Medicaid “maintenance budget” that JFAC has just passed. I encourage you all to read the bill. You’ll have to get to page six to read the Medicaid budget. This bill has passed both the Idaho House and the Idaho Senate. All Republicans voted for it. All Democrats voted against. It awaits the governor’s signature.

Here’s the catch. That’s last years budget. They have not made any allowances for how Idaho or our relationship with the federal government has changed in the last twelve months. Theoretically, that bill with all the changes is to follow. That’s where our majority Republicans want to nitpick.

Then, the rubber will meet the road.

Last year’s regular Medicaid budget had a federal matching rate (FMAP) for regular Medicaid at 69.72%. This year’s will be at 67.59%.

I warned you about the numbers. They are going to get big.

That small change came about because Idaho became less poor. Idaho led the nation in median household income growth.

Medicaid is a partnership with the federal government to get people health insurance who don’t get it through their workplace. If the state is poor, the federal government forks up. If our incomes improve, the state is expected to pay more. Many states are at a 50/50 rate. We have been as high as 80/20. But our household incomes have risen in the last few years. So, we will need to fork over more if we want to keep this health insurance for our citizens.

Maybe we do, maybe we don’t.

Because when the next JFAC Medicaid bill comes to both houses it will include this FMAP change.

I’m sorry, but you must pay attention to the numbers, and the definitions.

I am NOT talking about the Medicaid Expansion population. That small group of Medicaid expense will never be more than a 10% match for the state. That’s why it was such a good deal.

But the regular Medicaid folks, the severely disabled and the children, and the pregnant women are the ones under regular Medicaid. They are the ones who will become more expensive. $68M more expensive.

Legislators are still butt hurt about Medicaid expansion. They throw numbers around with brazen ignorance and it can alarm you. I have seen my elected representative do this at town halls. But he is doing this to build an image. His numbers aren’t real. They aren’t the truth.

But when the real budget bill comes up for a vote on the floor of the Idaho House and Senate, will they know the numbers? Will they know the truth? I deeply regret to say, they will not. They do not understand the details of the budget. And few of us do.

But here’s the punchline in this numbers game. If the Idaho Republican legislative majority doesn’t approve the next Medicaid budget, with it’s $68M dollar bump for the regular Medicaid folks, Idaho will not be following our agreed upon partnership with the federal government. We will be in default.

Every year I was in the Idaho Senate, and on JFAC, and crafted the Health and Welfare budgets, I would watch the votes for the appropriations bills as they worked through. Medicaid might pass the House with a couple votes to spare. In the Senate it wasn’t as close.

This year, the “maintenance” budget has passed. The next budget bill with its bump will stick in their craw. And they will be voting us out of Medicaid.

And they can lie to you that they voted for it.

 

Borders

Dale found this service both meaningful and convenient.

The militia had discussed the southern border problem for weeks but had finally come to this compromise. The whole militia could have loaded up and gone down to Texas where they would be welcome. But they all had jobs.

Except Fred, the Captain, who was on social security.

And Donnie, with his disability. They were both gung-ho to take the trip south.

Both Justis and Junior seemed to be living off of some settlement, and they didn’t seem eager.

But Dale had to work. So, he’d said he couldn’t go to Texas.

So, they set up this outpost on the southern Idaho border to protect our country from the invasion.

They had their tactical gear and rations. Though Dale’s wife, Betty had pointed out to him the cost of all that gear equaled a car monthly payment, maybe more.

The wind was cold. The sun slanted west. Again, he wasn’t at the barricade, but up on look out. He thought back to when they had been protecting the unborn. That had gotten dramatic. He wasn’t sure of any unborn children saved, but at least they’d made a stand.

But this border thing was a bit harder for him to understand. He really didn’t want foreigners moving into his neighborhood. But Paco and his wife sure seemed to be reasonable folks. Paco did concrete work and she made tamales. They were good neighbors, though their kids were wild. Dale smiled as he thought of their antics.

But he had seen on the videos how there were tens of thousands coming across bringing fentanyl to poison his neighbors. And they were bringing in sex slaves, children to be defiled. He felt a righteous purpose. This righteousness brought him peace. Lord, he needed peace.

He scanned the southern horizon. They had been warned to look for vans, since the unlawful immigrants are often piled together. It was chilly, but he was warm. The low sun and the peace left him time to think.

He thought of his next job. A dairy south of him needed another water line. He could rent the trencher and knew how to make the connections, but working down in that trench was beyond his girth. His last employee was violated and now serving a rider.

The dairy seemed to have lots of Spanish speaking workers. He wondered if any of them were part of this invading horde. He also wondered if any of them knew how to glue PVC.

He shook his head to clear it. Too many thoughts can distract you. But he saw nothing in the distance.

He thought again about the pipes and the trencher and some young skinny guy he could teach down in the ditch.

His radio crackled. “Red Leader to Blue outpost.”

He toggled. “Copy”

“You see the white van from the south?”

Dale looked as far as he could, but the wind brought tears to his eyes. He held his hand up to block it and sure enough, a white van was coming north across Idaho’s border. “Roger. I see it.”

There was a long pause from Red Leader. Then, “We will intercept. Must protect the border.”

Dale dropped below the ridge and got out his binoculars. He could see the militiamen move the barricades out onto the road and shoulder their arms, like in the drills.

The van slowed and stopped. They were interrogated. The road militia stood with arms ready, but after the questioning, the barricades were removed, and the van passed.

Dale asked. “No illegals?”

Red Leader was chipper. “No, just some Mormons fundamentalists coming back from Mexico. They’re OK.”

Dale felt good about his duty.

 

Idiots

Are we, or are they? Maybe they just think we are.

Megan Blanksma is no idiot. But her posture of protecting us from government intrusion makes me think she might think us so. Shame on her.

She wants to change how immunizations are recorded here in Idaho to “protect privacy”. She should set her sights on Google or Amazon, not the Immunization Registry.

I wish Representative Blanksma could have been with me in the ER on the weekends in Grangeville. I can’t tell you how many times folks showed up with a scratch or a cut from the rusty nail wanting a tetanus shot.

“I don’t need no stitches, doc, just the tetanus.”

When was your last shot?

“Heck, I don’t know. It’s been years.”

We will look it up. The nurse starts logging in.

“That shot keeps it from getting infected, don’t it?”

Well, no. Tetanus is a rare complication from an anaerobic wound. Last year in this country about seven people died from tetanus. But wound infections are much more common, and the tetanus shot does not keep you from getting a wound infection.

The nurse finds that his last shot was three years ago, recorded in the state registry.

It looks like you don’t need a shot, you are well protected from tetanus. But make sure you wash that wound, soak it, let us know if it gets red or painful. You don’t need another tetanus shot for another seven years. Though there is some evidence you only need them every thirty years. You’ll be fine.

The current immunization registry guidelines are that people can “opt out” at their request. If they don’t opt out, their immunization data is recorded in a protected data base. Identified health care providers can access the information.

Do you think your shopping data is protected? Are you an idiot?

When you Google 18 cubic foot refrigerators then log in to Fox News and see ads for 18 CF refrigerators, do you think this is just a coincidence? Then you’re an idiot.

It’s all about information. For some reason, our state does not have the capability to find people we have improperly disenrolled from Medicaid. But our DMV knows if you have car insurance. Why doesn’t Representative Blanksma go after that data base?

I think it’s because she knows an avid base when she sees one. Antivaxxers are at the head of any Trump rally. So why not combine the universal desire for privacy with the antivaxxer sentiment? It’s a win-win. But that’s just because she thinks we are idiots.

I don’t believe we are.

Opt in and opt out is a crucial pivot point.

Most of us don’t think about our retirement.

Nor about keeping up to date on our immunizations.

Good evidence shows that employees enrolled (opted in) into a retirement plan, with no cost to themselves, have more savings in the long run. When the retirement benefit is structured so they must “opt in”, some choose not to. Maybe they are suspicious of their employers’ motives, who knows. But the opt in, opt out pivot point is powerful.

Please, look in your wallet. Do you have a smudged immunization card?

Maybe you think this service of keeping track of immunizations is best done by the private sector. Make sure you give them your credit card information and email address.

Yes, you are an idiot.

Representative Blanksma described being shocked when she found out that her children’s immunizations were recorded in the state registry when she had “opted out” from that process years back. I can appreciate that affront.

But dismantling a good system is an idiotic response.

 

Remote work

I guess remote work is the new library porn for the Idaho legislature. It seems the Republican legislative leadership has decided it can manage state employees better that the administrators watching their work product.

A couple bills have been introduced to limit remote work by state employees. I guess we all gotta have something, don’t we?

For me, it the jerks who don’t signal their turn. But there’s already a law about that. In my brief time in the legislature, I didn’t look around for laws to pass to make my nonsignaling citizens suffer. I never thought about bumping up that penalty. But I was an Idaho Democrat. I couldn’t engage in culture wars. Despite what Dorothy Moon says, most Idaho Democrats in elected positions know the political landscape, and work with it. We can’t afford to be culture warriors.

But Idaho Republicans seem to be doing just that.

There indeed may be some evidence that Democrats are more accepting of remote work than Republicans.

Why don’t they go after Subarus? It’s a well-known fact that progressive folks in this northern clime buy all wheel drive Subarus, not 4WD Ford F150’s.

A North Idaho Republican State Senator griped to me about how he was getting grief that his wife drove a Subaru. “They’re great in the snow and they get good mileage. Why can’t a Republican drive a Subaru?” He’s no longer in the legislature.

The Culture Wars of the Idaho legislature are pitiful. Except, they get to write our laws. Please, never forget that. And the legislature has the hubris to tell the executive branch how to run government.

The endless culture wars bills come out early in the legislative session. I will skip past the abortion and anti-gay and transexual laws. Because this one seems so silly.

Why can’t state employees in this day and age work from home?

Is it because while they are at home, doing work through their internet connection they might also get the laundry done?

Is it because they might be more likely to vote Democratic?

Is it because they might have progressive ideas about how things should be happening?

Maybe it’s been shown in some Koch Brothers data mining that people that work at home are more likely to favor solar panels and Subarus, thus vote Democratic.

In any event, the Idaho Legislature has decided it is in our, the taxpayer’s best interest to micromanage state employees.

These early introduced bills are often just a locating shot, for their pals back home to know where they stand. But in this case, they have received significant traction.

The interim Director of the Department of Health and Welfare has instituted a policy to restrict all DHW workers so they can only work 20% of their time from home.

Working from home might make good sense. If you are screening data on Medicaid claims, why do you need to drive in from Meridian, park in your spot, and log in? Does the state have an interest that you have to commute for another hour and a half each day? Is the state better served that you can’t do the laundry between reviewing claims?

If the work is not getting done, we have a management problem, not a policy issue.

But the Idaho legislature seems to think that protecting us taxpayers from these “home workers” serves us.

They aren’t protecting us from home schoolers.

I don’t get it. It doesn’t make any fiscal sense.

If moms or dads are great to teach their kids at home, why can’t state employees do such work for us from their homes?

It’s just another culture war. Give it up. Fight for all of us, not just for those that vote for you.

 

Seasons

The Idaho legislature has its seasons. Old hands know this, and young bucks and does have figured it out too. You, the interested public should also know it.

I don’t communicate this like I’m a wise old sage. Many are far wiser and have seen more seasons than me. But we should get this out there so we can all have a sense of what’s going on.

When I went hunting with my daughter this fall, she commented on how she’d heard rifle shots in her drainage. She was worried the elk had been spooked. “They don’t pay much attention to shots. They move when an animal falls.”

Here in the early season of the Idaho legislature we are hearing the shots.

The “antiwoke” bill proposed to change all the words in Idaho code that said “fetus” would be changed to “preborn child” got introduced for us all to be shocked and appalled. Then, the sponsor said it would go no further. It will be held in committee at her request.

Maybe the sponsor was shooting at something. Maybe she was just letting her fellow hunters know where she was. She didn’t harvest. Harvesting comes later in the season. These early weeks of the legislature are for location shots, not harvesting.

Similarly, we have the long, complicated bill from Representative Redman that would essentially repeal Medicaid Expansion. It has so many clauses, it makes my head spin. Don’t try to read it. It’s not worth your time. It proposes so many restrictions that it would accomplish repeal of the Medicaid Expansion that 63% of Idahoans favored in an initiative vote. Why is he so out of tune? These early season shots are important to let the rest of us know just who we are hunting with.

You see, our elected representatives are not our hunting camp buddies.

It was always fun to come back to camp and hear what the others had seen, build up the fire, eat the food.

You have to understand that our elected representatives aren’t sitting around the fire with you. They are in their own camp.

In my fifth year of Idaho State Senate service, I went to a presentation from the local Soil Conservation Districts. Their goal was to inform state legislators about the work they did. A colleague from north of me commented to the presenters about how, when he discussed this with constituents, he didn’t think this was a reasonable use of tax dollars. I asked him over lunch just which constituents expressed these ideas. “I just meet with my Republican Central Committee.”

These early shots reflect what they are talking about around their campfires, not ours.

Little will be harvested. But it’s something to brag about back in camp. But maybe someday they will harvest.

The middle season of the Idaho legislature is when the menial work is done. Simple budgets get passed; repair bills fix up the sloppy bills from years before. There are always the lingering hot button bills that are held late to consume some drama. Abortion, libraries, pornography, some other issue might fill this middle season when we should have harvested much earlier.

But the harvest is always late since Speaker Moyle has risen to power.

These early bills might garner support back in the Central Committee meetings, whether they pass or fail. But the real juice comes at the end.

And then, at the end of the long hunt, there’s little time to direct the shot.

These last two sessions have seen tax bills proposed in the last week, rammed through committee, transferred long past the deadline for such, and approved. The hero took the final shot and dropped the harvest.

Are we so eager for meat? We should want more.

 

Again

I had this conversation with my wife yesterday about Idaho’s abortion laws. I have told this before, but she said I needed to say it again. She didn’t remember. Maybe you don’t either.

The Idaho antiabortion statutes are so confusing, even Boise State couldn’t get it right. Up here in Moscow, we are not surprised. “Who do we hate, Boise State” has not been a chant heard here for a long time, but it echoes still between the grain elevators.

In their recent poll of Idaho residents, BSU prefaced a question with the statement “Currently in Idaho, abortion is banned after six weeks of pregnancy…”. That prefacing has no basis in statute. All abortions are banned, unless the doctor can positively attest the life of the mother is in jeopardy. There is also the exception for rape, if a police report has been filed, but my State Senator is trying to remove that. The BSU professors gulped when a reporter pointed this out to them.

In my previous column, I pointed out how these laws, no longer subject to Supreme Court protection, would make me a criminal. I guess I might be spending the last of my days in Idaho Correctional facilities. I ask the local prosecutor to come knock on my door.

I’ve told this story before.

A young woman didn’t want to be pregnant. But she was pretty far along when she came to me. It turned out her baby had a deformation not compatible with life outside her womb. It was anencephalic. The baby’s brain had not developed. She also had excessive amniotic fluid. Her cervix was ripe, meaning, I thought she could soon go into labor. I explained the situation to her, that her baby would not live, but in my opinion, she should deliver. She agreed.

The next day, I ruptured the membranes that surrounded her fetus, excuse me, “preborn child”. If the Idaho Legislature has it’s “Anti-woke” way, those are the words we now should all be using.

So now I want you to read the text of Idaho statute defining an abortion:

the use of any means to intentionally terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman with knowledge that the termination by those means will, with reasonable likelihood, cause the death of the unborn child…I.C. § 18-604(1)

I ruptured the membranes… “any means”.

The child will die outside of the womb… “cause the death”.

I could not attest that the condition of excessive amniotic fluid would cause the death of the mother, though it does carry a risk. I am guilty.

So, all women in Idaho carrying an anencephalic “Preborn Child” will need to leave the state, unless they are comfortable having their baby without medical intervention. For that doctor could go to prison.

Maybe the frequency of this condition is so rare we should just ignore it to protect all the other “Preborn” that could be murdered. There were probably only 5-10 anencephalies in Idaho last year. But there were a few Potters Syndromes, some other chromosomal aberrancies. It’s not up to the mother, the family. The legislature knows best, don’t they?

That is where our legislature, the people we have elected, have put us. I pity the women. I feel for the families. This is a tragedy. But our representatives do not have the compassion to consider their condition. Maybe they just can’t be compassionate.

But maybe we Idahoans can. The responses to that poorly prefaced BSU poll showed that 58% of Idahoans favored offering exceptions to the misrepresented restrictions. Remember, Boise State said you could get an abortion in Idaho before six weeks of pregnancy. Legally, you cannot. Ever.

It doesn’t really matter to our elected officials just what we think. I can’t tell who the heck they are listening to.