By Ruth Brown, Idaho Reports
As of May 31, the Idaho court system had no record of any person being charged under the state’s new criminal abortion statute, according to a data request from Idaho Reports.
The law, Idaho Code 18-622, went into effect last August following the overturning of landmark case Roe v Wade. In 2020, the Idaho Legislature passed the bill that would criminalize any physician who conducted an abortion in Idaho, with rare exceptions for reported rape, incest and life of the mother. The felony charge would be punishable by two to five years in prison.
The court system does not track how often civil litigation invokes specific laws, so Idaho Reports was unable to find data on whether the state’s civil cause of action on abortion has been used since its implementation.
Idaho did add exceptions to the law this year, clarifying some narrow medical exemptions that allow a physician to terminate a pregnancy. Those include “the removal of a dead unborn child,” “the removal of an ectopic or molar pregnancy,” or “the treatment of a woman who is no longer pregnant.” All of those exemptions are cases in which the pregnancy would never be viable.
Physicians have said that the exceptions are not enough to cover the variety of issues a pregnant woman could face in which her life could be jeopardized by the pregnancy and a termination may be necessary to save her.
In a May 26 episode of Idaho Reports, Minority Leader Rep. Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, still expressed concern about the abortion law.
“We’ve been the fastest growing state, but I am really concerned about whether we will be able to maintain our status as an attractive destination and an attractive place for people to remain,” Rubel told Idaho Reports. “The state only had nine fetal-maternal medical specialists for those very high-risk pregnancies. We’ve lost four of them in the last six months because of our abortion laws.”
Rubel argued that if Idaho is going to value life, it needed value women’s lives.
“Why would a doctor want to practice in a state where they face five years of prison for providing standard medical care, you know, and often saving women who are hemorrhaging, miscarrying,” she said. “Our laws are so overreaching right now that it’s a danger to women’s lives and it’s a danger to the availability of medicine in Idaho.”
In 2023 the Legislature also opted not to renew the Maternal Mortality Review Committee.
Rep. Julie Yamamoto, R-Caldwell, told Idaho Reports she does see possibilities for further changes to the law making it through the Republican Caucus.
“The reason I have some confidence is because I got to talk with (House State Affairs chairman) Brent Crane just earlier this week,” Yamamoto said during the May 26 panel. “And he is not giving up on having the discussions. I thought that what was promising was he was recognizing, he’s acknowledging that maybe we need to have more medical professionals in the room when we’re talking about those things, so the definitions of things are clearer and that the language is clear enough that … they feel confident. And if we have selected people who the medical community respects and can trusts. Then when they can sign off on that legislation, I think we have a much better chance in our caucus of moving it through.”
Ruth Brown | Producer
Ruth Brown grew up in South Dakota and her first job out of college was covering the South Dakota Legislature. She’s since moved on to Idaho lawmakers. Brown spent 10 years working in print journalism, including newspapers such as the Idaho Statesman and Idaho Press, where she’s covered everything from the correctional system to health care issues. She joined Idaho Reports in 2021 and looks forward to telling stories about how state policy can impact the lives of regular Idahoans.