Dear Pro-Life Friends:

We just heard the exciting news this morning that Governor Butch Otter has signed Idaho’s Fetal Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, S1165, into law. Because this law has an emergency clause it will go into effect immediately to protect Idaho’s unborn children who are capable of feeling the pain of an abortion at 20 weeks after fertilization.

Please join us in thanking our Governor for signing this vital pro-life bill on his website at gov.idaho.gov.

Idaho is now the third state to have passed and signed into law the Fetal Pain-Capable bill. Kansas Governor Sam Brownback just signed their bill on April 12th.

Oklahoma’s bill is now on their governor’s desk awaiting his signature, and it looks very promising that Alabama will also pass similar legislation this year.

Planned Parenthood in both Kansas and Oklahoma have said they do not plan to challenge these laws. We do not know yet what Planned Parenthood of Idaho will do.

We want to emphasize that Right to Life of Idaho remains committed to protecting all life from the moment of conception until natural death. But, because of the restraints of the various court decisions, we are forced into a position of taking smaller incremental steps to restrict abortion to protect unborn children.

Because Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton has allowed abortion for any reason throughout the entire nine (9) months of pregnancy, Idaho’s Fetal Pain-Capable bill will be considered one of the most protective laws in the country as it protects the unborn from the fifth month of pregnancy.

Once again we thank the courageous and diligent Senate and House sponsors of S1165, Senator Chuck Winder, Rep. Brent Crane, and Rep. Lynn Luker.

We also wish to thank again the co-sponsors of this legislation: Senator Sheryl Nuxoll, Senator Russ Fulcher, Senator Steve Vick, Senator Monty Pearce, Senator Shirley McKague, Rep. Vito Barbieri, Rep. Reed DeMordaunt, Rep. Dick Harwood, Rep. Janice McGeachin, Rep. Paul Shepherd, Rep. Ken Roberts, Rep. Judy Boyle, Rep. Jim Guthrie, Rep. Steve Thayn and all those who worked publically and behind the scenes to help pass this protective legislation for our Idaho unborn children.

Thank you for your continued prayers for the pro-life movement of Idaho and for the unborn children of Idaho.

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Dear Pro-Life Friends:

You may have already heard the good news that the Fetal Pain-Capable Bill (S1165) passed the Idaho House 54-14 yesterday afternoon. It now heads to Governor Butch Otter who is expected to sign this legislation. The bill bans any abortion from 20 weeks post-fertilization when the unborn child is capable of feeling pain.

Rep. Brent Crane and Rep. Lynn Luker, sponsors of the House bill, did a superb job in defending this legislation and the unborn protected by this bill. During floor debate, co-sponsors Rep. Vito Barbieri, Rep. Reed DeMordaunt, and Rep. Dick Harwood and Rep. Shannon McMillian, joined the sponsors in masterfully defending the unborn who can feel the excruciating pain of an abortion.

Our many thanks also to the co-sponsors, Rep. Janice McGeachin, Rep. Paul Shepherd, Rep. Ken Roberts, Rep. Judy Boyle, Rep. Jim Guthrie, Rep. Steve Thayn, and all those who worked publically and behind the scenes to help pass this protective legislation for our Idaho unborn children.

Kansas and Oklahoma have passed almost identical bills this session and their governors have promised to sign their legislation. Planned Parenthood in both of these states have said they do not plan to challenge these laws. We do not know yet what Planned Parenthood of Idaho will do.

We again express our tremendous gratitude to Sen. Chuck Winder, the primary Senate sponsor, and co-sponsors Sen. Russ Fulcher, Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, Sen. Steve Vick, Sen. Monty Pearce, Sen. Shirley McKague, and the Senate and House leadership who helped shepherd this legislation so diligently through both bodies of the legislature.

Julie Lynde, Executive Director of Cornerstone Family Council, was a wonderfully articulate member of the team lobbying for and testifying for this legislation. We owe her much gratitude for her faithfulness.

We thank David Ripley, too, with Idaho Chooses Life, for his support of this legislation and for initiating several pro-life bills this session including the Assisted Suicide Ban. Please see his website for an explanation of the bills he helped sponsor which we supported, as well.

Please know that Right to Life of Idaho remains committed to protecting all life from the moment of conception until natural death. But because of the restraints of the various court decisions, we are forced in a position of taking smaller incremental steps to restrict abortion to protect unborn children.

Because Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton has allowed abortion for any reason throughout the entire nine (9) months of pregnancy, the Fetal Pain-Capable bill will be considered one of the most protective laws in the country as it protects the unborn from the fifth month of pregnancy.

Thank you for your faithfulness and your continued prayers.

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Dear Pro-Life Friends:

The Fetal Pain-Capable bill, S1165, passed the House State Affairs Committee today by a large margin, 14 to 4. The House sponsors, Rep. Brent Crane and Rep. Luker, did a masterful job in defending this legislation.

Dr. Sean Kenney, maternal fetal expert from Lincoln, Nebraska, gave brilliant testimony as did Dr. Monte Crandall, an ob/gyn from Twin Falls.

Please read below for further details and other testimony that was presented before the committee.

S1165 may be introduced before the full House by this Friday, April 1st, for debate and vote. Please contact your two representatives immediately to support this legislation to protect the unborn child who is capable of feeling pain.

We thank Senator Winder, Senator Bart Davis, Rep. Brent Crane, Rep Lynn Luker, and all of the Senate and House co-sponsors for their willingness to speak for the little ones who cannot speak for themselves.

We ask for your continued prayers!

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Dear Pro-Life Friends:

The hearing for the fetal Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, S1165, will be tomorrow morning, March 30th, at 8:00 am, in the House State Affairs Committee, Rm EW40. The time was just confirmed today.

There will be expert medical witnesses supporting the bill as well as other pro-life testimony.

We ask for your continued prayers!!

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Dear Pro-Life Friends:

The full Idaho Senate debated and passed the Fetal Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, S1165, on Wednesday, March 23rd. The bill passed 24 to 10 with 1 absent.

Senator Chuck Winder, primary sponsor of the Fetal Pain-Capable bill, and Senate co-sponsors, Senator Sheryl Nuxoll and Senator Russ Fulcher, masterfully debated and defended the bill. We thank them for their courage in defending the little ones who cannot speak for themselves.

S1165 now heads to the House. A full House hearing is planned for Wednesday, March 30th, in the House State Affairs Committee at about 7:00am. The exact time will be announced next week. The prime sponsor in the House is Rep. Brent Crane along with co-sponsor Rep. Lynn Luker.

Please contact your two Idaho House representatives to ask them to support this legislation. Read on for further details about the bill, testimony for the bill and how to contact your two state representatives.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

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Dear Pro-Life Friends:

On February 6th, the Nation celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the birth of President Ronald Reagan. While in office, he wrote a book about being prolife.

It was titled “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation.” President Reagan’s efforts kept our country’s focus on the issue of children in the womb and their inherent rights. He noted in a 1983 article on the 10th year anniversary of Roe v. Wade that it “… had become a continuing prod to the conscience of the nation.” In other words, the president would not let us forget about abortion and that it stops a beating heart!

Mr. Reagan’s prolife views revealed a genuine and consistent love for life. Unequivocally, he declared that as a Nation, “we must choose between the sanctity of life ethic and the ‘quality of life’ ethic.” He noted that from its infancy, this Nation valued the humanity of each individual, quoting the Declaration of Independence that every school child knows,

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Unyielding to the politics of his day, President Reagan exclaimed on Roe’s 10th Anniversary, that this Nation has consistently fought for, and upheld, the sanctity of life! On this firm foundation of respect for life at all stages, he declared, “we will have no trouble deciding that a mentally or physically handicapped baby has the same intrinsic worth and right to life as the rest of us.”

This is true because, as Mr. Reagan said, “…we cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion or infanticide.”

In affirming America as a free land with a free people, he noted that “… there is no cause more important for preserving that freedom than affirming the transcendent right to life of all human beings, the right without which no other rights have any meaning.”

From his prophetic heart, Mr. Reagan noted, “Whether we are talking about pain suffered by unborn children, or about late-term abortions, or about infanticide, we inevitably focus on the humanity of the unborn child. ”

His prescient words ring true here, today, now. . . . right now! In Idaho!

Why? The Idaho Legislature is presently considering a bill called the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act [S1165], introduced by state Senator Chuck Winder, that establishes a compelling state interest in protecting and preventing the pain and suffering of unborn children. With substantial medical evidence that unborn children experience pain—severe pain in the abortion procedure—beginning at 20 weeks after fertilization, this Act would prevent abortion of the unborn children after 20 weeks after fertilization.

In fact, medical evidence shows that the pain of the 20 week old unborn child is far more intense than what you and I would experience. Their underdeveloped nerve endings do not have the protective coating which our nerve endings have, so the pain they experience is much more severe.

As President Reagan noted, we must inevitably focus on the humanity of the unborn child. It is a humanity shared by all people—born and unborn. One of these commonalities is pain and suffering.

When dealing with the issue of abortion and the unborn, this type of pain can be prevented!

A formal hearing on this bill was held in Boise at the State Capitol on Wednesday, March 16, 2011, before the Senate State Affairs Committee. Expert medical and legal testimony was given. You can read the details below.

While the bill would not ban the majority of abortions in Idaho, it would protect the unborn children who are at 20 weeks post-fertilization from the pain and suffering that comes from an abortion.

This is the next step in helping the unborn and in upholding a consistent ethic and respect for life.

We ask you to contact your Idaho State Senators and ask them to Support Fetal Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Legislation [S1165], which would provide protection for the unborn children in Idaho from the fifth month of pregnancy.

Please help. Please donate right away. These funding battles are engaged. Right to Life of Idaho needs your financial help with these life-saving pieces of legislation.

Please help us, and mail a contribution for $20 or $50 or $100. Or send a larger gift. We have the ability to do so much with so little. Imagine what we could do if we had financial power.

For babies, for life, for humanity.

Like President Reagan, let’s show the Nation that the people of Idaho choose the sanctity of life!

To Life!

P.S. Mr. Reagan believed in life. He pursued protection of the unborn as well as the innocent people behind the Iron Curtain in Europe. President Reagan witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but not the end of abortion in America. This generation has picked up the banner and the fight continues.

Please mail your donation to

Right to Life of Idaho
PO Box 7404
Boise, Idaho 83707

as soon as possible. Thank you!

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Dear Pro-Life Friends:

The Fetal Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act passed 7-2 out of the Senate State Affairs Committee, Wednesday, March 16th, after about 2½ hours of testimony.

Read the testimonies of our brilliant expert witnesses, Ferdinand Salvacion, MD, Sean Kenney, MD (and his Op-Ed piece dealing with the Deaver case), and Professor of Law Teresa Collett.

Testimonies in favor of S1165 were also submitted by Dr. Monte Crandall, a pro-life OB/GYN from Twin Falls, ID, Jason Herring and Kerry Uhlenkott for Right to Life of Idaho, and Julie Lynde for Cornerstone Family Council (Idaho’s affiliate of Focus on the Family). Also, Christine Tiddens, lobbyist for the Catholic Diocese of Boise, testified on behalf of Bishop Michael Driscoll in favor of S1165.

It will probably be debated and voted on by the full Idaho Senate on Monday or Tuesday, March 21st or 22nd. Please contact your senator as soon as possible to support S1165. Contact your senator with the info above.

We owe many thanks to the primary sponsor, Senator Chuck Winder, District 14, for his courage to bring forth and defend this legislation.

Thank you for your prayers!

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Dear Pro-Life Friends:

The new number for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is S1165.

Thank you.

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Dear Pro-Life Friends:

The Fetal Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act will be heard in the Senate State Affairs Committee on Wednesday, March 16, at 8:00 am (MDT), in the auditorium across from Rm WW55 on the Garden Level of the Capitol. This bill, if passed, will protect unborn children who are capable of feeling pain from 20 weeks post-fertilization.

Right now the bill number is S1148, but it will be getting a new number by Monday or Tuesday because of some amendments we had to add. We have medical and legal experts testifying for the bill on Wednesday. These include:

Ferdinand Salvacion, MD, Medical Director, Pain Management, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (read his testimony),

Sean Patrick Kenney, MD, Director Maternal Fetal Medicine/Labor and Delivery at Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln, Nebraska (read his testimony and letter), and

Teresa Stanton Collett, Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, Minnesota (read her testimony).

We would very much appreciate your prayers.

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Dear Pro-Life Friends:

On Friday March 4th, the Senate State Affairs Committee voted to print the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection legislation, S1148. This bill would ban any abortion at the time when the unborn child is capable of feeling pain. There is an enormous body of medical research--literally hundreds of studies--indicating that the unborn child is capable of feeling pain at 20 weeks. This bill would ban the vast majority of abortions from the 20th week of pregnancy unless there is a true medical emergency to save the life of the mother. S1148 is very similar to a Nebraska law that has been in effect since October 2010, with no legal challenge. Senator Chuck Winder, District 14, is the primary sponsor of this legislation, and it is being initiated by Right to Life of Idaho and Cornerstone.

The Senate State Affairs Committee will hold formal hearings on this bill within approximately two weeks.

We ask you to contact your Idaho state senator and ask them to support S1148 which would provide protection for unborn children in Idaho from the fifth month of pregnancy from the extremely painful procedure of a late abortion. You can contact your senator by calling 208-332-1000 or 800-626-0471 or by emailing them at idleginfo@lso.idaho.gov.

We ask for your prayers. Thank you.

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Dear Pro-Life Friends:

Hundreds of pro-lifers marched in Boise, Moscow and Coeur d’Alene on Saturday, January 22nd to commemorate the 38th year since the Roe v. Wade decision was upheld in 1973. Jason Herring, President of Right to Life of Idaho said, “This decision has legalized the deaths of more than 53 million unborn children by abortion.”

Fr. Ben Uhlenkott, pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Mountain Home, led the crowd of over 1800 people attending the Boise rally in an opening prayer.

Three members of the Rachels Vineyard ministry addressed those attending the Boise rally, as well as the Right to Life of Idaho banquet the evening before. Candy Cadillo and Mary McCool explained how Rachels Vineyard helps post-abortive woman and their family and friends. Teresa Miller, who had attended a Rachels Vineyard retreat, gave her powerful testimony of abortion and healing.

Kerry Uhlenkott, RTLI Legislative Coordinator, explained the Fetal Pain legislation which is being sponsored by Sen. Chuck Winder this legislative session.

Below are talking points on the Fetal Pain legislation:

Medical science has come a long way since 1973. We know so much more about the unborn child now than we did then. Especially with the advance of fetal surgery which is commonly done today. Fetal surgeons have long seen the need for their unborn patients to be given anesthesia during surgery.

There is strong medical evidence that unborn babies feel pain at 20 weeks. In fact, evidence shows that the pain of the 20 week old unborn child is far more intense than what you and I would experience. Their underdeveloped nerve endings do not have the protective coating which our nerve endings have, so the pain they experience is much more severe.

Unborn babies feel the intense and excruciating pain of abortion. Abortion not only hurts their mothers, it hurts them.

Last year, based on this evidence, Nebraska was the first state in America to ban abortions when the unborn child is capable of feeling pain.

Nebraska’s law provides the strongest protection in the country for the unborn child, because they are protected in the fifth and sixth month of pregnancy and later. It is illegal to kill unborn babies in Nebraska who feel pain.

Pro-abortion opponents have not challenged this law. They do not want to debate the issue of fetal pain in the public forum.

LeRoy Carhart, the abortionist who used to perform late abortions in Nebraska, has left the state because of this so called “restrictive law.” But he is soon to open up abortion operations in Iowa, Indiana & Maryland. This highlights the need for state legislatures to pass a Nebraska type Fetal Pain law.

Sen. Chuck Winder (R) District 14, is the primary sponsor of this legislation.

Please contact your legislators to support this important legislation.

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Dear Pro-Life Friends:

We welcome and encourage everyone to come to our annual Right to Life of Idaho March and Rally on Saturday, January 22nd at 1:00 pm beginning at the Julia Davis Park in Boise. From there we will march down Capitol Blvd to the Capitol for the rally. Candy Cardillo and Mary McCool, who work with Rachel’s Vineyard, a ministry for post-abortive women, will be speaking at the rally.

We also would love to see you the evening before at the RTLI banquet on Friday, Jan 21st at 7:00 pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, 7699 W Spectrum Way in Boise (the same place as last year). It will be so very good to share a meal and fellowship with committed pro-life persons from across Idaho and listen to our inspirational pro-life speakers - Candy, Mary and others. The cost is $20 per person or $150 for a table of 8. This covers our cost for the meal and room rental.

Please email juliekatzenberger@hotmail.com to let us know how many seats you need.

We would appreciate it if you could you forward this info to your family and friends. Thank you!

We all look forward to seeing you at the banquet, and the March and Rally.

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Dear Pro-Life Friends:

March For Life 2011 sponsored by Right To Life of Idaho will be held on Saturday, January 22, in Boise to remember that all life is precious and must be protected. The annual March For Life takes place each year near the anniversary of the 1973 ruling that made abortion legal in the United States. This year marks the 38th year of abortion on demand.

The March For Life will start at 1 p.m. (MST) at Julia Davis Park bandshell. The Rally will be held at the steps of the Capitol Building. Opening prayer will be presented by Father Benjamin R. Uhlenkott, pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Mountain Home. March For Life 2011 is honored to have Candy Cardillo and Mary McCool as their keynote speakers. Cardillo and McCool work with Rachel's Vineyard, a ministry for post-abortive women.

Babies, children, teens singles, parents, grandparents, everyone is encouraged to attend and March For Life. All who value the sanctity of life are urged to participate in the Idaho March for Life 2011 sponsored by Right To Life of Idaho, Inc.

There will also be marches in Coeur d'Alene and Moscow.

The Coeur d'Alene March will start at 10 a.m. (PST) January 22 at Independence Point on the east side of the city park just past the clock tower on Sherman Avenue. The rally will follow at approximately 10:30 a.m. at St. Thomas Center, 406 N. 10th. Jodi Wagner, Pharmacist, will be our special speaker on the topic of abortifacients. Pro-life materials, books and videos will be available and refreshments will be served. All signs for the march will be provided by RTLI. For more information call (208) 664-4919.

In Moscow, marchers will meet at 1 p.m. (PST), January 22 at Logos Christian School (110 Baker Street behind McDonald's on the Pullman highway) and will march to downtown Moscow for a rally at Friendship Square. Guest speaker will be Fr. Brian May, priest at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Moscow. Please bring your own signs. For more information contact Linda Geidl at (208) 835-2004.

In Boise, there will be a Life Mass at St. John's Cathedral, 807 North 8th in Boise, starting at 11:30 a.m. (MST). preceding the March For Life. The Mass will end in time for people to get to Julia Davis Park for the start of the March. Following Mass, the Knights of Columbus will provide a shuttle bus from the cathedral to Julia Davis Park for the annual march and rally.

The Knights of Columbus will also host marchers at St. John's Cathedral Parish Hall following the rally for cookies, hot chocolate and coffee. All are welcome.

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