Idaho Candidates With The Worst Abortion Rights Records in 2022
For Immediate Release: Oct. 5, 2022
BOISE, ID — Abortion rights are on the line in November’s election, and although now illegal in Idaho, there is still much more at stake including access to emergency contraception and birth control. But this November, Idaho voters have a chance to fight back against efforts to ban abortion. Certain candidates in Idaho have shown us time and time again who they are and what they intend to do if given office.
It’s clear that Laurie Lickley can read a poll, because ever since abortion began ranking as a top issue for Idaho voters in 2022, Lickley has tried to backtrack and obscure her record. But that doesn’t change the fact that Lickley cosponsored the current abortion ban in Idaho (SB 1385), voted in favor of the bill to expand abortion restriction and authorize lawsuits by family members, and voted to rescind funds for entities providing abortion advice.
Following Lickley’s footsteps, Codi Galloway also voted for these atrocious bills. The difference between Lickley and Galloway? Galloway made it clear she doesn’t want to stop there. She also voted against expanding access to birth control. At the end of the day, Galloway doesn’t even have the approval of her own party, with five-term Idaho senator Fred Martin endorsing Democrat and abortion rights advocate Rick Just.
In 2018, Dan Foreman faced an ethics complaint after shouting at University of Idaho students and redirecting the student lobbyists to talk about “killing babies” with a Democratic colleague. The students were there as part of a scheduled meeting with Foreman to lobby for a bill that would require insurance companies to cover up to a 12-month supply of birth control and promote better sex education on college campuses. Since then, Foreman has made his position crystal clear, writing that his top issue is to abolish the “unnecessary, harmful and wasteful curse of abortion.”
“The fight for our reproductive freedom is far from over,” said Mistie DelliCarpini-Tolman, Idaho State Director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates. “We have to do everything in our power to keep these extreme anti-abortion politicians out of office because we’ve seen over and over that they want to go further, that they will go further. They will stop at nothing to take away our right to birth control and contraceptives, but our votes can send a clear message that we won’t stand for it. These candidates are too extreme for Idaho.”
All people, regardless of where we live or what we look like, deserve to be able to make the best health care choices for ourselves and our families. The decision of when and if to become a parent is one of the most important many of us will make in life. We must defend this right.