This November, Idahoans will vote on a ballot initiative that would expand access to abortion four years after a near-total ban went into effect.
If enacted, Idaho’s Proposition 1 would repeal the state’s current law, which makes performing abortions a felony in almost all cases.
Currently, the only exceptions to Idaho’s abortion ban are in the case of rape or incest that has been reported to law enforcement, or to prevent the death of the mother.
In a court case last year, that second exception was expanded to include conditions that create a risk of death at some point.
In contrast, Proposition 1 would create a right to abortion until the point of fetal viability, as determined by a physician. According to the Idaho Medical Association, that’s usually around 20 to 24 weeks.
Prop 1 also allows for abortion in the case of medical emergencies as determined on a case-by-case basis by physicians using good faith medical judgement.
The proposition would further codify existing reproductive freedoms including the right to contraception, childbirth care, fertility treatment, and care before, during and after pregnancy or miscarriage. It also includes the right to privacy in those healthcare decisions.
Critics of the proposition have said that its language leaves the door open for it to supersede the state’s existing medical parental consent law, though proponents say it is not intended to change parental consent.
The Idaho Medical Association, which has taken a neutral stance on the proposition, wrote in an educational guide for its members that the proposition neither expressly repeals nor preserves the parental consent law, but that the specificity of the current parental consent law would likely override general provisions in Proposition 1.
Read the audio script here.
