Medical privacy is an American value. That’s why we have strong laws to protect it.
Since Idaho’s extreme abortion ban took effect, courageous women and families have given up that privacy to share what this law has cost them. They spoke out in court for health exceptions. They pleaded with the Republican supermajority to amend the law. This year, they told voters their stories to pass Proposition 1.
In doing so, they opened themselves up to the sad standard of online discourse: judgment, rude comments, and harassment. They knew the risks and acted anyway, hoping to make pregnancy safer for the next woman, for our daughters, and for our granddaughters.
Women recounted being airlifted out of state, on their own dime, because pregnancy emergencies threatened their health and fertility. Their doctors risked prison time for providing appropriate care.
Would-be parents described the heartbreak of learning their pregnancy wouldn’t result in a baby who could survive outside the womb. Ending the pregnancy to avoid health risks meant paying for out-of-state travel, leaving their support networks, and facing shame for seeking care that’s illegal in Idaho.
Sadly, Proposition 1 failed on Election Day after misleading attacks. The measure would have restored the fetal viability standard that governed abortion care for decades, with protections for medical emergencies afterward. Rare abortions later in pregnancy involve devastating complications, including fetal anomalies incompatible with survival. These are gut-wrenching situations.
We owe women harmed by Idaho’s extreme abortion ban a solution that protects their health and brings OB-GYN doctors back to Idaho. They deserve empathy and action from the Republican supermajority responsible for these problems.
That supermajority has had four years to fix this. Instead, GOP lawmakers have refused to even hold a hearing on health exceptions. When a federal judge ruled an Idaho doctor could provide care to prevent serious harm to patients, Attorney General Raúl Labrador appealed. That protection is now on hold.
While ignoring women, GOP lawmakers give their full attention to anti-abortion hardliner David Ripley. Ripley controls political endorsements and campaign contributions, prompting Republican politicians to fall in line. Ripley’s daughter came forward during the Prop 1 campaign to describe the domestic abuse she witnessed from him and his failure to support her as a child. She, too, knew the personal cost of speaking out and did it anyway.
Instead of answering to a radical activist who designed the extreme abortion ban and lacks moral character, lawmakers should answer to the families whose lives have been upended and the doctors pleading for change.
For our part, Idaho Democrats will keep working to elect leaders who will restore our reproductive freedoms and get politicians out of the exam room entirely.
Onward,
Lauren Necochea
Idaho Democratic Party Chair