Abortion In Idaho
Abortion in Idaho is legal. 45% of adults said in a poll by Pew Research that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Idaho passed a law in the 2000s banning abortions after 22 weeks because it was alleged that a fetus can feel pain. Mandatory informed consent laws were in place by 2007. The cut off point for getting a legal abortion in the state was generally some point between week 24 and 28. This period uses a standard defined by the United States Supreme Court in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade ruling.
The number of abortion clinics in the state has been declining in recent years, going from fifteen in 1982 to nine in 1992 to three in 2014, and remaining at that number in 2016 and 2017. Because of this, some women went to Emerg-A-Care in Jackson Hole, Wyoming to get abortions. There were 801 legal abortions in 2000, 738 in 2001, 911 in 2003, 1,767 in 2014 and 1,695 in 2015. Both abortion rights activists and anti-abortion rights activists have been active in Idaho.
Terminology
The abortion debate most commonly relates to the "induced abortion" of an embryo or fetus at some point in a pregnancy, which is also how the term is used in a legal sense. Some also use the term "elective abortion", which is used in relation to a claim to an unrestricted right of a woman to an abortion, whether or not she chooses to have one. The term elective abortion or voluntary abortion describes the interruption of pregnancy before viability at the request of the woman, but not for medical reasons.
Anti-abortion advocates tend to use terms such as "unborn baby", "unborn child", or "pre-born child", and see the medical terms "embryo", "zygote", and "fetus" as dehumanizing. Both "pro-choice" and "pro-life" are examples of terms labeled as political framing: they are terms which purposely try to define their philosophies in the best possible light, while by definition attempting to describe their opposition in the worst possible light. "Pro-choice" implies that the alternative viewpoint is "anti-choice", while "pro-life" implies the alternative viewpoint is "pro-death" or "anti-life". The Associated Press encourages journalists to use the terms "abortion rights" and "anti-abortion".
Context
Free birth control correlates to teenage girls having a fewer pregnancies and fewer abortions. A 2014 New England Journal of Medicine study found such a link. At the same time, a 2011 study by Center for Reproductive Rights and Ibis Reproductive Health also found that states with more abortion restrictions have higher rates of maternal death, higher rates of uninsured pregnant women, higher rates of infant and child deaths, higher rates of teen drug and alcohol abuse, and lower rates of cancer screening.
According to a 2017 report from the Center for Reproductive Rights and Ibis Reproductive Health, states that tried to pass additional constraints on a women's ability to access legal abortions had fewer policies supporting women's health, maternal health and children's health. These states also tended to resist expanding Medicaid, family leave, medical leave, and sex education in public schools. According to Megan Donovan, a senior policy manager at the Guttmacher Institute, states have legislation seeking to protect a woman's right to access abortion services have the lowest rates of infant mortality in the United States.
Poor women in the United States had problems paying for menstrual pads and tampons in 2018 and 2019. Almost two-thirds of American women could not pay for them. These were not available through the federal Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC). Lack of menstrual supplies has an economic impact on poor women. A study in St. Louis found that 36% had to miss days of work because they lacked adequate menstrual hygiene supplies during their period. This was on top of the fact that many had other menstrual issues including bleeding, cramps and other menstrual induced health issues. This state was one of a majority that taxed essential hygiene products like tampons and menstrual pads as of November 2018.
History
Legislative history
By 1950, the state legislature passed a law stating that a woman who had an abortion or actively sought to have an abortion regardless of whether she went through with it were guilty of a criminal offense.
The state passed a law in the 2000s banning abortions after 22 weeks because they alleged that fetus can feel pain. The state was one of 23 states in 2007 to have a detailed abortion-specific informed consent requirement. In the informed consent materials given to women in Idaho, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas required by statute, the materials used graphic and inflammatory language. Idaho was the only state of 23 with detailed informed consent requirements by statute that did not require the woman be told how far advanced her pregnancy was. Georgia, Michigan, Arkansas and Idaho all required in 2007 that women must be provided by an abortion clinic with the option to view an image their fetus if an ultrasound is used prior to the abortion taking place. As of May 14, 2019, the state prohibited abortions after the fetus was viable, generally some point between week 24 and 28. This period uses a standard defined by the United States Supreme Court in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade ruling. On March 24, 2020 Governor Little signed S1385 into law which is a trigger law that if states are allowed to ban abortion, then abortion will be illegal in Idaho except for cases of the life of the mother, rape or incest.
Judicial history
The United States Supreme Court's decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester.
Clinic history
Between 1982 and 1992, the number of abortion clinics in the state decreased by six, going from fifteen in 1982 to nine in 1992. In 2014, there were three abortion clinics in the state. In 2014, 95% of the counties in the state did not have an abortion clinic. That year, 68% of women in the state aged 15 – 44 lived in a county without an abortion clinic. In March 2016, there were three Planned Parenthood clinics in the state. In 2017, there were three Planned Parenthood clinics in a state with a population of 365,502 women aged 15 – 49 of which 3 offered abortion services.
Emerg-A-Care in Jackson Hole, Wyoming also served women from Eastern Idaho in 2017.
Statistics
In the period between 1972 and 1974, there was only no recorded illegal abortion death in the state. In 1990, 106,000 women in the state faced the risk of an unintended pregnancy. The lowest number of legal induced abortions by state in 2000 occurred in Idaho with 801, while South Dakota was second with 878, and North Dakota was third with 1,341. Idaho had the fewest induced abortions in 2001 with 738, while South Dakota was second with 895, and North Dakota was third with 1,216. Idaho had the lowest induced abortion to live birth ration at 36 per 1,000 live births while New York City had the highest at 767. Based on the ratio of number of women aged 15–44 years, Idaho had the lowest rate of induced abortions at 3 per 1,000 women while the District of Columbia had the highest at 37 per 1,000. In 2003, the state of South Dakota had the lowest number of legal induced abortions with 819. Idaho was second with 911, while North Dakota was third with 1,354. Idaho had the lowest ratio of induced abortions to live births at 42 per 1,000 in 2003 while New York City had the highest at 758 to 1,000. In 2010, the state had zero publicly funded abortions. In 2013, among white women aged 15–19, there were abortions 170, zero abortions for black women aged 15–19, forty abortions for Hispanic women aged 15–19, and 20 abortions for women of all other races. In 2014, 45% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. In 2017, the state had an infant mortality rate of 4.6 deaths per 1,000 live births.
| Census division and state | Number | Rate | % change 1992–1996 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 1995 | 1996 | 1992 | 1995 | 1996 | ||
| US Total | 1,528,930 | 1,363,690 | 1,365,730 | 25.9 | 22.9 | 22.9 | –12 |
| Mountain | 69,600 | 63,390 | 67,020 | 21 | 17.9 | 18.6 | –12 |
| Arizona | 20,600 | 18,120 | 19,310 | 24.1 | 19.1 | 19.8 | –18 |
| Colorado | 19,880 | 15,690 | 18,310 | 23.6 | 18 | 20.9 | –12 |
| Idaho | 1,710 | 1,500 | 1,600 | 7.2 | 5.8 | 6.1 | –15 |
| Montana | 3,300 | 3,010 | 2,900 | 18.2 | 16.2 | 15.6 | –14 |
| Nevada | 13,300 | 15,600 | 15,450 | 44.2 | 46.7 | 44.6 | 1 |
| New Mexico | 6,410 | 5,450 | 5,470 | 17.7 | 14.4 | 14.4 | –19 |
| Utah | 3,940 | 3,740 | 3,700 | 9.3 | 8.1 | 7.8 | –16 |
| Wyoming | 460 | 280 | 280 | 4.3 | 2.7 | 2.7 | –37 |
| Location | Residence | Occurrence | % obtained by out-of-state residents |
Year | Ref | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Rate^ | Ratio^^ | No. | Rate^ | Ratio^^ | ||||
| Idaho | 1,710 | 7.2 | 1992 | ||||||
| Idaho | 1,500 | 5.8 | 1995 | ||||||
| Idaho | 1,600 | 6.1 | 1996 | ||||||
| Idaho | 1,767 | 5.6 | 77 | 1,353 | 4.3 | 59 | 5.2 | 2014 | |
| Idaho | 1,695 | 5.3 | 74 | 1,272 | 4 | 56 | 4.6 | 2015 | |
| Idaho | 1,725 | 5.4 | 77 | 1,289 | 4.0 | 57 | 3.4 | 2016 | |
| ^number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44; ^^number of abortions per 1,000 live births | |||||||||
Abortion rights views and activities
Protests
Women from the state participated in marches supporting abortion rights as part of a #StoptheBans movement in May 2019.
Anti-abortion views and activities
The Boise March for Life takes place every January on the weekend anniversary of Roe v. Wade to commemorate the over 50 million unborn children that have been lost since the Supreme Court ruling. The march and rally that follows are a celebration of life and demonstration in the belief that all life is sacred.
Shelley Shannon attempted to set fires at abortion clinics in Oregon, California, Idaho and Nevada during the late 1980s and early 1990s and eventually plead guilty for these cases of arson. In 1993, she would be found guilty of attempted murder of Dr. George Tiller in 1993 at his Wichita, Kansas clinic.
Footnotes
- ^ According to the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade:
Likewise, Black's Law Dictionary defines abortion as "knowing destruction" or "intentional expulsion or removal".(a) For the stage prior to approximately the end of the first trimester, the abortion decision and its effectuation must be left to the medical judgement of the pregnant woman's attending physician. (b) For the stage subsequent to approximately the end of the first trimester, the State, in promoting its interest in the health of the mother, may, if it chooses, regulate the abortion procedure in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health. (c) For the stage subsequent to viability, the State in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where it is necessary, in appropriate medical judgement, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother.