Latest news with #IdahoansUnitedforWomenandFamilies
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘End the ban:' Idaho organizers start gathering signatures for abortion rights ballot initiative
On Saturday, organizers with Idahoans United for Women and Families held a rally at the Idaho State Capitol Building in downtown Boise for a new ballot initiative that seeks to establish abortion rights in Idaho. (Courtesy of Idahoans United for Women and Families) The rallying calls were familiar. Despite dangerous pregnancy complications, women are being denied emergency abortions. Doctors are leaving the state. And politicians shouldn't be involved in sensitive health decisions. But one part of the pitch was new: Instead of asking state lawmakers for a fix, Idahoans can sign on to establish their own state law. 'Idaho has been living under the trigger ban for nearly three years,' Melanie Folwell, lead organizer for the group behind Idaho's abortion rights ballot initiative, told a Boise rally on Saturday. 'And we have seen — and you'll see in the stories you hear today — that it simply does not work for Idaho. It doesn't work for anybody. So, today is the first step we are taking to end the ban.' The effort to collect signatures for the proposed ballot initiative comes nearly three years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That reversal lifted federal court protections for abortions, letting states regulate abortion — which activated trigger abortion bans in several states, including Idaho. Despite calls for change in the three years Idaho's ban has been in place, including by the state's top medical association, Idaho lawmakers have largely refused to modify Idaho's strict abortion laws. The ballot initiative, a power outlined in Idaho's constitution, allows voters to propose their own policies that carry the power of law — if approved by a majority vote. But qualifying an initiative for the ballot is a tough hurdle in Idaho. In the past decade, only three ballot initiatives have had enough signatures to qualify for the ballot: a successful Medicaid expansion initiative in 2018, a failed historical horse racing initiative in 2018, and an unsuccessful primary election reform initiative in 2024. The group Folwell leads, Idahoans United for Women and Families, is hoping to qualify the abortion ballot initiative for the ballot in the November 2026 general election. That gives organizers about a year to collect the nearly 71,000 signatures needed. They already collected 1,200 signatures on Saturday, when hundreds of people turned out for the rally, organizers say. And organizers are gearing up for signature collection efforts across the state soon, Folwell told the Sun, helped by their 1,000 volunteers. The initiative could mean doctors and other medical professionals 'will not be afraid to move to Idaho and take care of us,' Dr. Becky Uranga, an Idaho doctor, said at the rally. That could mean several things might get better, she explained between cheers from the audience — like your longtime doctor 'will stay and keep caring for you and thousands of others,' that you may be able to avoid a six-month wait to see a doctor or other medical professional, and that Idaho doctors can 'again provide the needed care without the risk of criminalization hanging over our heads.' 'And most of all, this could restore the sacred space between doctors and our patients. And I can honor all of your beliefs and privacy in the exam room — without any external pressures,' Uranga said. Kate Campbell-Covell, a pregnant mother with two kids, told the rally about how she had to travel to Utah after she learned her son wouldn't survive her pregnancy. 'With tears in their eyes, our extremely compassionate and loving medical team explained that due to the laws in Idaho, they were unable to render the care they deem necessary to save my life and protect my future fertility,' she said. Then she was airlifted out of state, she said. After federal court protections, St. Luke's has said the health system hasn't had to air transport any patients for pregnancy complications. Before those protections, St. Luke's transported six patients out of state in the first four months of 2024. The federal court protections only allow emergency abortions for doctors at St. Luke's. Campbell-Covell later learned that she had a severe placenta infection. If left untreated, she would have died, she said. She had her son's ashes sent home. Krista Doubleday signed the initiative Saturday. She says she thinks people need to understand more about how an unwanted pregnancy affects people. For years, she worked in social work, and now works as a local therapist. 'The amount of children that I saw living in absolutely horrid conditions, and from individuals that were forced to bear them from other countries, is really what radicalized me and made me pro choice,' Doubleday said. Ken Harris, a local musician, also signed. He said he wants abortion access in Idaho to return to how it used to be. 'That was what the case was in Idaho for 50 years. Male politicians — politicians have no business dictating to people about their private medical decisions and feelings,' Harris told the Sun. 'A woman's opinion about what she should do with her body — for her own health, for her family — should be her decision alone.' To qualify for the ballot, the group needs at least 70,725 qualifying signatures from Idaho registered voters. That figure is 6% of Idaho's nearly 1.2 million registered voters in the 2024 general election — spread across half of the state's 35 legislative districts. But signature gathering efforts were delayed by almost six months after initiative organizers legally challenged descriptions state officials developed about the initiative for voters to see, Folwell told the Sun. The descriptions are featured on signature gathering forms. Last month, the Idaho Supreme Court ordered the Idaho Attorney General's Office and the Idaho Division of Financial Management to redraft the descriptions. The new short ballot title describes the initiative as a 'measure creating right to abortion before fetus viability, and post-viability to protect health; right to privacy; healthcare provider liability protections.' The initiative would raise state expenses by less than one thousandth of a percent of Idaho's share of the Medicaid budget, or between $3,100 and $7,800 each year, the initiative's redrafted fiscal impact statement says. 'This impact is derived from the costs of treating chemical abortion complications for women enrolled in Idaho's Medicaid program,' the fiscal impact statement says. 'Medicaid covers medically necessary services to treat complications from all abortions. It is anticipated that as legal abortions increase, the complications will also increase. This will likely result in an increase in Medicaid covered services and expenditures to treat complications from chemical abortions, which the State has reliable and readily available data to support.' The new fiscal impact statement also no longer includes the entire Medicaid services budget of $850 million in fiscal year 2024. This article was first published by the Idaho Capital Sun, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
No decision yet from Idaho Supreme Court leaves abortion ballot initiative group in the lurch
Anne Henderson Haws, an attorney representing the abortion ballot initiative group Idahoans United for Women and Families, presents opening arguments to the Idaho Supreme Court on Friday, April 25, 2025. (Kyle Pfannenstiel/Idaho Capital Sun) It's been more than 30 days since a hearing in a conflict over the language of a proposed 2026 reproductive rights ballot initiative, but with no decision yet from the Idaho Supreme Court, the group leading the push to restore abortion access in Idaho says the delay is hurting their organizing efforts. Idahoans United for Women and Families launched its citizen-led initiative effort in April 2024 and submitted proposed ballot titles in August. A new state law also requires a fiscal impact statement to be attached to initiatives, and the group alleged Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, a Republican who has been outspoken about his anti-abortion views, and the Division of Financial Management inserted language that was prejudicial. They pointed in particular to a statement that said costs associated with the prisoner population and the Medicaid budget could occur. Idaho Supreme Court hears arguments in abortion ballot initiative lawsuit As part of the initiative process, the Attorney General's Office is responsible for drafting short and long ballot titles that summarize what the legislation would do if passed. State law says the language must describe the proposal accurately and use common language without phrasing that is likely to prejudice voters. The complaint filed by Idahoans United with the Idaho Supreme Court in late January called the statement biased and says it includes contradictory language, 'wrongly implies' that Medicaid and corrections spending would increase, and 'prejudicially includes an irrelevant reference to the state's $850 million Medicaid budget.' Labrador's office did not respond to requests for comment. In court filings, Labrador did not address the fiscal impact statement component of the complaint, and only spoke to the 'fetus viability' language that Idahoans United said was objectionable because it is not medical terminology. Labrador said it is common parlance and there is no difference between that language and 'fetal viability.' In a separate court filing, officials with the Idaho Division of Financial Management did not speak to the rationale for the fiscal impact statement, but restated the language and denied that it was prejudicial to the initiative. The Idaho Supreme Court heard arguments April 25, and there have been no updates since then, despite a motion to expedite. The last court battle over ballot titles was in 2023, when Reclaim Idaho said Labrador's office also prejudiced its initiative language about changing the state primary election system. In that case, oral arguments were held on a Monday and a decision came out that Thursday, with a unanimous vote in favor of Reclaim Idaho. Ultimately, voters overwhelmingly defeated the initiative in the November 2024 election. Idaho has a citizen ballot initiative process, but only its Legislature can propose constitutional amendments, unlike many other states. So instead of a constitutional amendment, the voters are asked to approve a citizen-crafted piece of legislation to be adopted. The measure requires a simple majority of voters to pass. Idahoans United submitted a policy that would establish a fundamental right to contraception and fertility treatments under state law, including in vitro fertilization, the right to make decisions about pregnancy and childbirth, legalize abortion before fetal viability, and preserve the right to abortion after viability in medical emergencies. Fetal viability would be determined by a physician and what treatment is available, but the commonly accepted gestational age of viability in the medical community is 23 to 24 weeks. The group's spokesperson and lead organizer, Melanie Folwell, told States Newsroom that the delay has forced them to cancel a planned kickoff rally on June 14 at the Idaho Capitol. The rally is now scheduled for June 28, in hopes there will be a decision by then. The initiative needs more than 70,000 valid signatures from districts across the state, and organizers had hoped to gather 10,000 of those in June alone. But the initiative language must be finalized and approved before any signatures can be collected, and the signature goal must be reached by April 30, 2026, to qualify for the ballot. 'We won't get another June. We won't get another crack at this in the coming months, and there are some real impacts to having to pursue a lawsuit,' Folwell told States Newsroom. The frustration is not directed at the court, Folwell said, but rather at state offices that crafted the language. 'I can't speculate as to their intent, but in providing us with unclear titles and fiscal impact statement, we have certainly been slowed down,' she said. 'It didn't need to be this way.' There will also be financial effects, she said, because adding pressure to the timeline will increase the costs associated with mobilizing volunteers and canvassers to gather signatures by the deadline. Nate Poppino, spokesperson for the Idaho Supreme Court, told States Newsroom in an email that the court does not comment on judicial deliberations, and opinions are issued at the court's discretion. 'Sometimes the issues the court must consider resolve quickly, and sometimes they require longer discussion,' Poppino said. Each opinion starts with one authoring justice, he said, and a draft is circulated among the other justices who can edit and weigh in before anything is finalized. That includes details like wording and the legal issues involved. 'If it's a situation that involves a dissent, that also is examined by the full court,' he said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
