The 2018 legislative session started last week and extremists are already advancing anti-choice, anti-woman attacks. This includes Rep. Ron Nate, who has indicated that one of his priorities is legislation requiring “information about Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) for women considering abortion.” We already know “abortion reversal” is not a real thing. There is no scientific or medical evidence to suggest that reversing a medication abortion is possible, and it has not been tested for safety, effectiveness, or the likelihood of side effects. This is just another politically-motivated attempt to interfere with providers’ ability to provide the best possible care to their patients.
Attacks on health care access are coming from the executive branch as well. Governor Otter recently issued an Executive Order ordering the Idaho Insurance Department to draft new insurance guidelines that will drop some of the ACA’s requirements. While the Order itself does not contain specifics, when pressed, he cited maternity care as an example of a requirement he would like to see removed.
Even as we fight these and other attacks on health care access, we are fighting to proactively improve reproductive health in our state. We are excited to push for the introduction of a bill that would require insurance to cover a full year’s supply of birth control. Women without reliable access to transportation or living in rural areas have more barriers to dependable access to birth control. A 12 Months of Birth Control bill would allow for women to get 12 months of birth control at a time, making consistent birth control use easier by reducing the number of time-consuming trips to the pharmacy women need to make and in turn reducing unintended pregnancies.
Tags: Legislative