Idaho passes Texas-style bill banning abortions on babies with detectable heartbeats

(LIFESITE NEWS) – Idaho may soon become the latest state to adopt the Texas model of banning abortion, as a heartbeat-based law with a similar enforcement mechanism won its final approval from the state legislature Monday.

US News & World Report reports that the Idaho House gave its final approval Monday to the Fetal Heartbeat, Preborn Child Protection Act, which would empower the father, grandparents, siblings, aunts, or uncles of an aborted baby to sue an abortionist for killing him or her, for damages of at least $20,000, provided the baby had a detectable heartbeat, which generally means around six weeks.

The Act is modeled after the now-famous Texas Heartbeat Act, which so far has avoided injunction by the judiciary in large part because of its unique enforcement mechanism that relies on civil suits by private citizens, rather than prosecution by the government. The Idaho bill is narrower in that it only empowers relatives of an aborted baby to sue, whereas the Texas law empowers all citizens to do so.

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