The Idaho Abortion Ban Saga
Abortion bans are harmful. Pregnancy is too complicated to legislate. Idaho’s women are suffering for it.
Physicians are leaving the state, and few are replacing them.
Idaho’s House Minority Leader, Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, reports, “As of this time last year, I believe, Idaho had nine fetal maternal medicine specialists who were the high risk care people. We've lost three of those in the last couple months, so we've lost one third of our coverage for high risk pregnancies for fetal maternal medicine specialists. We can't fill our medical residencies, for the first time in Idaho history. We are losing OBGYNs. We are losing neonatologists. Doctors are fleeing the state and no doctors want to come here right now.”
Boise State Public Radio News reported on the difficulty of recruiting medical residents in this political climate.
A recent survey of maternal care physicians showed that of 117 maternal care doctors interviewed in Idaho, 75 are actively pursuing or considering relocation out of state. Of those providers interested in leaving, 97% cited "Idaho's restrictive abortion laws" as the reason. Dr. John Werdel, a 31-year OBGYN in Boise writes, “Family medicine and generalist OBGYN physicians, who manage the vast majority of pregnant patients in our state, are also signaling a desire to limit their practice, retire early or leave Idaho.”
Just imagine the chilling effect on women’s health when few are left to attend to it. Banning abortion has a negative effect on all forms of reproductive care — from routine exams and STI treatment to pregnancy complications and miscarriage management — leaving patients at risk.
Labor and delivery units are closing.
On March 17, 2023, Sandpoint’s own Bonner General Health announced the imminent closure of its Labor and Delivery Department, forcing pregnant women to travel an hour further for care. In its statement, the hospital cited “Idaho’s legal and political climate” as one of the reasons for the closure. It went on, “Highly respected, talented physicians are leaving. Recruiting replacements will be extraordinarily difficult. In addition, the Idaho Legislature continues to introduce and pass bills that criminalize physicians for medical care nationally recognized as the standard of care. Consequences for Idaho Physicians providing the standard of care may include civil litigation and criminal prosecution, leading to jail time or fines.”
With rural obstetrical units already struggling to stay afloat financially, Sandpoint may be a bellwether for what is to come elsewhere in the state, leaving much of Idaho a maternity care desert. Myriad national and international news outlets reported on this event, including The Guardian, NPR’s Here and Now, CBS News, The Washington Post, The Today Show, and many more.
Pregnant women in the region are now faced with greater difficulty accessing care and diminished assistance in carrying their pregnancies to term. Idaho is forcing women to birth babies but is removing the safety mechanisms and support systems that lead to healthy outcomes.
Maternal mortality will rise. Women will die.
A recent study by The Commonwealth Fund shows that abortion restrictions create maternity care deserts (like Sandpoint’s), and that maternal death rates are 62 percent higher in abortion-restricted states like Idaho than in states that allow access. With a lack of obstetrical care available to 60,000 residents in Idaho’s two northern counties — and drives to delivery units taking up to two hours — it’s easy to see how poorer outcomes may prevail.
Deaths among pregnant women in Idaho more than doubled from 2019 to 2020, and that was before our abortion bans were put in place. That number is expected to rise. However, Idaho has decided to no longer fund the Maternal Mortality Review Committee that keeps track of such statistics, so we will not have data beyond July 2023.
Rising maternal mortality rates cannot be considered cured just because no one is watching them climb. Families will feel the impacts. So, too, communities. Our legislators may remain ignorant, but our hearts will know these losses intimately and profoundly.
Forced birth has negative mental health consequences.
The American Psychological Association reports that having an abortion is not linked to mental health problems, but being denied access is. “Rigorous, long-term psychological research demonstrates clearly that people who are denied abortions are more likely to experience higher levels of anxiety, lower life satisfaction and lower self-esteem compared with those who are able to obtain abortions,” said APA President Frank C. Worrell, PhD. “In addition, there is no research to indicate that abortion is a cause for subsequent mental health diagnoses.”
Furthermore, according to the Turnaway Study, women denied abortions are more likely to stay connected to abusive partners, thus perpetuating the deleterious impacts of physical and emotional abuse.
There are poorer economic outcomes for forced birth.
The ten-year Turnaway Study found that women who were denied an abortion endured increased rates of poverty and debt, and were more likely to lack money to cover basic living expenses like food, housing and transportation. An article in the New Yorker details the impacts on women’s educational, employment and earning potentials.
NPR covered the economic findings of the Turnaway Study and explored “the long-term, and often life-altering, economic consequences for the women who were ‘turned away.’”