BOISE, Idaho — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday said his state will protect Idaho residents’ access to abortion procedures as he signed a bill solidifying some health care workers’ ability to perform abortions and forbidding Texas-style punishment for providers.
Washington’s bill updated its Reproductive Privacy Act to formally include physician assistants and advanced registered nurse practitioners as clinicians who can perform abortion procedures. The bill also prevents the state from penalizing or punishing people who perform or assist in abortions.
Inslee said the bill comes at “a perilous time” and was spurred by other states’ moves to restrict abortion — particularly recent moves made by Idaho lawmakers.
