By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

A grassroots citizen group has launched a ballot initiative signature drive that proposes to outlaw abortion in Idaho.

The initiative proposed by Abolish Abortion Idaho seeks to change state code to make performing or having an abortion an act of first-degree murder.

The group hopes to gather enough signatures to have the initiative placed on Idaho’s general election ballot in November 2018. To do that, Abolish Abortion Idaho needs to submit at least 56,000 signatures of registered Idaho voters to be verified by the state’s county clerks by April 19, 2018. The group must also obtain at least 6 percent of the total registered voters in 18 of the 35 legislative districts to show there's sufficient statewide support for the initiative to be placed on the ballot.

"What we're asking Idaho to do is make abortion illegal by its statute and disregard the federal court's opinion (in Roe v. Wade in 1973 that established a nationwide right to abortion)," said Scott Herndon, a homebuilder from Sagle who said he's among about 25 people who organized the proposal.

"Our citizens initiative petition is similar to what a number of other states (such as Indiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Ohio) are doing."

If the initiative is placed on the ballot, a simple majority (50 percent plus one) vote would be needed for it to pass.

"In circulating the petition, we get to declare that the value of human life is from conception to natural death and it is because we are created by an almighty and loving God who made us in His own image," Herndon wrote in a letter to churches. "It is also our hope that we truly do abolish abortion here in Idaho and finally establish justice for the preborn.

"If a woman faces the very real consequences of a first-degree murder penalty, we are confident it will act as a deterrent to abortion."

The proposal is drawing mixed reviews.

Chuck Wilkes Jr., lead pastor at True North, a Church of the Nazarene in Hayden, said he has immediate concerns.

"The use of criminal sanctions simply compounds a bad situation," he wrote in an email to The Press, adding his comments are his own and don't reflect his pastoral position. "The use of first-degree murder charges is not appropriate for these situations.

"Some of the language indicates that, for instance, an ectopic pregnancy (in which the fertilized egg implants outside the uterus) could not be treated in any way that harmed the embryo. That situation is very troublesome and unworkable."

Wilkes wrote that defining a human being as beginning at conception is "massively unworkable and creates an almost-impossible burden on mothers-to-be."

Paul Van Noy, pastor of Candlelight, a nondenominational Christian Church in Coeur d'Alene, said he supports the petition, citing Idaho laws defining murder and embryo and fetus.

"Therefore, simply stated, the intentional killing of a human fetus or embryo is murder as defined by Idaho state law," Van Noy said.

Van Noy said he realizes there will be widespread emotions and difficulties surrounding the initiative proposal.

"I have had many myself," he said. "However, having given this a lot of prayer and biblical contemplation, I have concluded that, as difficult as the language in the initiative may be to our now numb and semi-numb social psyche, we need to let the facts sink in."

If the initiative passes, prosecutions will not be retroactive.

Herndon said the originators of the petition are Christians of various denominational backgrounds from North Idaho. He said Abolish Abortion Idaho is not the same group that demonstrated against abortion in front of some area churches earlier this year, although he suspects they would support the initiative petition.

While there have been other anti-abortion proposals floated in Idaho in the past 44 years since the Roe v. Wade decision, Herndon said he's unaware of others seeking a complete prohibition on abortion.

Herndon said it's unclear how many signatures have been obtained because the first round of petitions hasn't been returned. He said contacting churches has been the focus of the effort so far, but it will move toward signature gatherers being at community events and outside public buildings next spring and summer.

Herndon said all the signature gatherers are, and will continue to be, volunteers.

"We don't have a big organization; this is truly a grassroots effort," he said.

The initiative proposal comes amid a flurry of abortion-related actions across the country.

Planned Parenthood and its allies recently filed lawsuits in North Carolina, Missouri and Alaska challenging laws the groups view as unconstitutional restrictions on abortion.

The Republican-controlled Congress is expected to seek a halt to federal funding of Planned Parenthood and also to ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. President-elect Donald Trump has said he favors both measures and has promised to fill Supreme Court vacancies with justices who would consider overturning Roe v. Wade.