Patti Anne Lodge says she asked, on three occasions, for supporters to rewrite their controversial ultrasound bill. That didn’t happen.
“I did not appreciate having to vote on that bill,” Lodge, R-Caldwell, told the Statesman editorial board Monday. Ultimately, as a pro-life Catholic, she said she came down on the side of the unborn, voting to mandate that women undergo an ultrasound before an abortion.
A day later, in another candidate interview, Boise Republican House candidate Curtis Ellis related a personal story. When he was in college, he said, his girlfriend got an abortion without his knowledge. At the time, Ellis said he wouldn’t have discouraged her — believing then that an abortion would destroy only one life instead of three.
“It horrifies me, at this point of my life, to think that I thought that was a legitimate answer,” he said.
But support for ultrasound legislation — be it reluctant or intensely personal — appears limited.
In our editorial board endorsement interviews, we asked candidates where they stand on ultrasound legislation. We also asked about the issue in our online voter guide. We did so knowing that an ultrasound bill, similar to the one that stalled in the House, will likely re-emerge in 2013.
Here’s my scorecard on the 70 Ada and Canyon county legislative candidates facing contested primaries on May 15:
— Twenty candidates, all Republicans, support the bill or are leaning in that direction.
— Forty-one candidates — 27 Republicans and 14 Democrats — are opposed or are leaning in that direction.
— Three Republican candidates said they are undecided or did not voice an opinion.
— Six candidates — four Republicans and two Democrats — did not respond to requests to interview with the editorial board, and did not fill out an online voter guide.
Granted, there is a lot of gray in the candidates’ positions. For example, when candidates expressed a desire to work on some sort of ultrasound bill, I put them in the “leaning yes” category. When candidates questioned the need for an ultrasound bill, or government’s role in this decision, I put them in the “leaning no” heading.
You can see my breakdown, race by race, at my blog. If you want more detail, I’d encourage you to read the detailed responses in our online voter guide — or listen to the candidate interviews.
But here’s the big picture — which spells trouble for an ultrasound bill. An unusual coalition of Democrats and conservative Republicans remains staunchly opposed to this legislation. Repeatedly, we heard from self-described pro-life candidates who opposed an ultrasound mandate that they rightly consider heavy-handed or hypocritical.
Backers of the ultrasound bill have some like-minded allies — people like Lodge and Ellis, who see this bill as a way to save the lives of the unborn. But this, evidently, remains a minority view.
THE NIBLE TICKET
Steve and Sherri Nible have been together for 20 years, married since 2005, and run a small construction company together.
“We’ve learned not to take our stuff home from work,” Sherri Nible says.
They’d like to extend that principle to work in politics.
The Nibles are running for legislative seats in Nampa’s legislative District 12 — Steve Nible running for House Seat A, Sherri Nible running for House Seat B. Both face three-person GOP primary elections on May 15. Democratic candidates have filed for both House seats — but, considering Canyon County’s Republican voting history, the races could be essentially decided in May.
