Abortion Access in Idaho

January 10, 2024

Idaho is rife with abortion ban laws, each more horrifying than the next. Post-Roe, Idaho’s six-week ban took effect, enforceable through “bounty hunter” lawsuits against doctors. But the six-week ban wasn’t enough; Idaho’s total abortion ban came next. And in 2023, lawmakers created a new crime: “abortion trafficking.” Under the trafficking law, it’s illegal to help a minor within the state to access abortion care.

Idaho’s abortion laws are draconian; the devastating impact cannot be overstated. And for those forced to give birth, there is little state support. In the wake of these increasingly strict bans, Idaho legislators dissolved its maternal mortality review committee and voted against expanding postpartum Medicaid coverage. Labor and delivery wards are shutting down.

The situation is dire. But as Garnet Henderson notes, Idahoans are fighting back, including through Idaho Abortion Rights (IAR), which – among other advocacy efforts – supplies businesses with boxes that have “emergency contraception, pregnancy tests, pamphlets with information about how to access abortion and domestic violence services.” The bans don’t change the fact that Idahoans want and need abortions, and that they support each other in doing so.

We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation believe that everyone has a fundamental human right to sexual freedom, which is inextricable from our right to safe, accessible abortion. We decry legislators’ efforts to erode those rights into oblivion, and we applaud those community members and organizations like IAR that are doing everything they can to allow people to freely make decisions about their bodies, lives, and futures.