Boise, Idaho–Lt. Governor candidate Terri Pickens Manweiler called on her opponent to stop the cruelty and to stop fighting a lifesaving injunction that delays enforcement of parts of Idaho’s inhumane anti-abortion law.
“As I campaign across Idaho, so many men and women tell me they can’t understand how Idaho politicians can force pregnant women to die needlessly, and in pain and despair, rather than have safe and standard medical care,” said Terri Pickens Manweiler. “I’ve come to understand that cruelty is the point.”
This week, a federal judge ruled that doctors in hospitals can perform emergency abortion procedures while the Courts decide if Idaho’s abortion law is legal. Speaker Bedke, Terri’s opponent, has vowed to fight the injunction.
“Scott Bedke has the same information that all of us do,” Pickens Manweiler said. “He knows that hundreds of women in Idaho are at risk of severe illness and death if he fights the injunction. The only motivation is cruelty.”
Since June 24, when the U.S. Supreme Court abolished abortion as a right that women have relied on for 50 years, Idahoans now realize that Idaho’s GOP extremists want cede many of our freedoms to the State. The right to reproductive healthcare, which must include abortion prodedures, is just one freedom they despise. The GOP is set to outlaw contraception, rights for LGBTQAI+ individuals, and the right to read books.
“Under Scott Bedke’s watch, reckless extremists have taken the wheel in Idaho. They see us in their headlights and they are pressing harder on the gas pedal,” said Pickens Manweiler.
Note: One reason for an emergency abortion is a condition called an ectopic pregnancy. Between 250 and 300 women have ectopic pregnancies in Idaho every year. Symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy: severe lower belly pain, vaginal bleeding, shoulder pain, and feeling dizzy, weak, or fainting. Untreated ectopic pregnancies cause severe internal bleeding, infection, and sometimes death.
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