Devastating Impact of Abortion Bans in Idaho

BOISE, ID — Nearly a month and a half after Idaho’s abortion ban went into effect in August, the impacts on Idaho patients has been immediate and devastating. Planned Parenthood health centers in neighboring states have already seen an influx of scared and confused patients, who are desperate just to access basic health care. 

The heart-wrenching stories are no longer hypothetical - everyone from cancer patients being turned away from critical abortion care to patients taking taxis with fees totaling over a thousand dollars to get to the nearest available clinic are facing nearly insurmountable barriers in accessing basic health care. 

And Idaho’s anti-abortion lawmakers like Todd Lakey, up for re-election in November, aren’t stopping there. Lakey supports the Idaho Republican Party’s official platform calling for a complete ban on abortion – even when the life of the pregnant person is at stake. During a legislative committee hearing, Lakey responded when asked if the health of the pregnant person was irrelevant as it pertained to the trigger law, “I would say it weighs less, yes, than the life of the child.” 

Lakey and his colleagues, like Laurie Lickley, Codi Galloway, and Dan Foreman, architects of Idaho’s draconian abortion bans, have made it clear that they will continue to strip away Idahoans’ right to bodily autonomy. 

Republican Senate Pro Tem Chuck Winder and Speaker of the House Scott Bedke have also given a full-throated push back to the decision by District Judge B Lynn Winmill stating that physicians should be protected under federal law in the event they face emergency medical decisions to save the life of the pregnant person. They clearly intend to push the boundaries of how far we will let them go.  

“The goal of these abortion bans was to create confusion and chaos, and that’s exactly what Idaho politicians have done,” said Mistie DelliCarpini-Tolman, Idaho State Director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates. “People aren’t sure if they can even talk about abortion anymore, as we’ve seen within universities across our state and that’s unacceptable. We deserve better and it’s time we send a message with our votes.”