This is a guest post from Renee Thompson.
Where have the intellects gone? -those that require fact to come with proof, search out primary sources, and hold those dispensing information accountable. In today’s world, many have fallen victim to false proclamations. If you say something enough times and loud enough, some people begin to believe it as fact. This is dangerous on a good day, it is downright treacherous in days like today where the internet and airwaves give stage to anyone wishing to share most anything…truth and proof not required.
My household holds life as precious, and not something to be dealt with lightly. This rebuttal may be political in nature, but not at its source. My concern today is life-based and is not related to the recent campaign loss we experienced. We went up against a strong party line, and lost against that party line. The incumbent won fair and square. This household will now move back into the constituent roll, one many in our nation and state need to accept their own personal responsibility for. Let your representatives know where their constituency stands, send them letters and call them with messages laced with kindness and packed full of facts backed with proof and primary sources – not with agitated emotionalism and angry name-calling. Please read this information, pass it along, make use of your God-given right and responsibility to petition your Government for a redress of grievances… and please refrain from personal attack and name-calling against those being petitioned.
As we look toward a new legislative year, important bills to retain and regain Idaho’s best way of life will be considered. I have great concern that a radio ad set to blast the airwaves the few days before our recent November election is a source of false information, causing confusion. That confusion can lead to life-endangering votes by representatives who are either uninformed due to lack of primary source study or are caught up in a drive to weaken the respect of life itself under the guise of greater knowledge. At the end of the day, I cannot know the motives of our representatives. However, I do know a half-truth, a twisted truth, or a pressed-down truth….all are falsehoods, and all dangerous to life in Idaho – those tiny little defenseless lives of our neighbors still in the womb; those seasoned, well-worn lives of those whose feet have trod the earth many years; and all of those Christ-image-bearer lives in between.
I challenge you to put in the work to read the Idaho Abortion Human Rights Act, listen to Mr. Clow’s campaign ad, and then put in still more work to digest and fully understand the situation.
A little background of import:
During a radio interview in late September, I was stunned to hear Representative Clow state that Paul felt a woman who experiences the loss of her child to an ectopic (tubal) pregnancy should be challenged and face punishment under the Idaho Abortion Human Rights Act. Below are a couple of problems with this statement, beyond the plain fact that it is simply untrue.
- First, an ectopic pregnancy has nothing to do with the abortion industry. There may be medical terms that overlap from the triage-situation the mother finds herself in and the money-driven abortion industry, but that verbiage would be the extent of their connection. Please take a look at what the Mayo Clinic says about ectopic pregnancies: “Pregnancy begins with a fertilized egg. Normally, the fertilized egg attaches to the lining of the uterus. An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants and grows outside the main cavity of the uterus. An ectopic pregnancy most often occurs in a fallopian tube, which carries eggs from the ovaries to the uterus. This type of ectopic pregnancy is called a tubal pregnancy. Sometimes, an ectopic pregnancy occurs in other areas of the body, such as the ovary, abdominal cavity or the lower part of the uterus (cervix), which connects to the vagina. An ectopic pregnancy can’t proceed normally. The fertilized egg can’t survive, and the growing tissue may cause life-threatening bleeding, if left untreated.” (Emphasis mine) https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ectopic-pregnancy/symptoms-causes/syc-20372088
A mother who has an ectopic pregnancy, or any other life or health-threatening condition, never goes to an abortion provider like Planned Parenthood or another abortion center in Idaho. She presents herself to a legitimate physician at an urgent care center, a hospital emergency room, or a doctor’s office where the standard of care is to first do no harm and is to preserve life and health. No legitimate life-saving care in these circumstances could ever be held unlawful under the language of HB 361.
- Second, Representative Clow hangs on the statement that Paul told him this was his stance in a meeting in February 2020. This is not true, it is not even a “change of mind” situation, this is either a complete misunderstanding and lack of knowledge for Mr. Clow, or it is a lame spin of half-truths in a desperate bid for votes. Paul, in his role as a pastor, has over the years sat with multiple broken mothers and fathers before and after the heartbreaking procedure of removing a fertilized egg that did not find its way to the life-giving uterus. Paul has not, and would not stand behind a bill that targeted mothers in the crisis of an ectopic pregnancy.
Representative Clow was made aware of the misinformation he shared. Immediately after the September interview, a family member contacted Mr. Clow and gave him clear information on ectopic pregnancies. The following website was provided to Mr. Clow in the lengthy email thread from September 2020, it is an excellent read full of good information: https://thelifeinstitute.net/learning-centre/women/medical-matters/ectopic-pregnancy#
Ectopic pregnancies and the Idaho Abortion Human Rights Act came up again in an October debate. Either this clear information was still not understood, was forgotten, or was simply ignored – for within the month, the same incorrect facts and false accusations were the center of a last-days radio campaign ad push. My goal now is to get the word out as best as I can in order to undo the damage false information has the propensity to cause. If other representatives choose to listen to this false information it could change their approach to important votes, and cause the continued loss of life of Idaho babies.
Below is my quick transcription of the ad; as I don’t have access to the script, I have no way to know punctuation intentions, so please listen to the actual ad right here.
[archiveorg lance-clow-radio-h-361-2020 width=640 height=30 frameborder=0 webkitallowfullscreen=true mozallowfullscreen=true]
“This is Lance Clow, Republican candidate for representative to Twin Falls, District 24.
My opponent from the other party has made dishonest claims about my pro-life record. I am proud of my 100% pro-life voting record, and the endorsement of Idaho Chooses Life, the leading pro-life voice for Idaho.
I oppose the unconstitutional bill advocated by my opponent that made it a felony, punishable with prison were a woman and her doctor to end a life-threatenin pregnancy, one with absolutely no chance for a live birth.
Sacrificing a mother’s life is not pro-life. It’s reckless and cruel.
Do not fall victim to my opponent’s cynical deception. Read House Bill 361 for yourself on the Idaho Legislature’s website. Ask yourself, do you want reckless irresponsibility from this other party?
Vote for Lance Clow, your responsible, republican, pro-life representtive.”
Yes, please do as requested in the ad, and read House Bill 361 (Idaho Abortion Human Rights Act), unlike many convoluted bills I have run across – this one is straightforward and succinct. Take a look at Section 3: (6), lines 19-21 specifically. Here is a link to the full bill text in a pdf from the legislature’s website so you can get the full context: https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2020/legislation/H0361.pdf
Section 3: (6) “Any medical practitioner attempting to save the life of a pregnant patient, which attempt results in the unintended death of an unborn human being, shall not be found guilty of violating the provisions of this chapter.”
By the time the mother presents with symptoms and the ectopic pregnancy is diagnosed, in almost all cases the embryo has already died. The Idaho Abortion Human Rights Act (HB 361) carefully defines abortion not to mean the ending of a pregnancy but rather abortion is defined as the intentional killing of a preborn human being. HB 361 is an anti-murder bill and has authority only when a preborn human being is intentionally killed. The bill specifically points out in its text that a legitimate medical procedure in which the objective is to save life will never be unlawful by the text of the bill. Any unintentional death of a preborn person caused by legitimate medical procedures is never held to be unlawful under the plain text of the Idaho Abortion Human Rights Act.
Therefore, a woman walking through the painful process of losing a child to an ectopic pregnancy is not being targeted by HB 361… though this is being used as a spin argument to take the eyes off of the horrors of the abortion industry in Idaho. This I count as truly reckless and irresponsible.
Let your legislators know where you stand on the Idaho Abortion Human Rights Act (last year’s HB 361), know the facts, protect the defenseless.
-Renee Thompson
