Idaho group files four initiative proposals to restore abortion access to state with ban
Kelcie Moseley-Morris Idaho Capital Sun 17 hrs ago
Florina Ruvio, an early childhood development specialist and board member of Idahoans United for Women and Families, signs the petition to submit four ballot initiative proposals to restore abortion access in Idaho.
Courtesy of Melanie Folwell/Idaho Capital Sun
Originally published Aug. 15 on IdahoCapitalSun.com.The organizers of an Idaho ballot initiative to restore access to abortion and protect all other types of reproductive care have filed
four proposals with the offices of state attorney general and secretary of state the first hurdle the initiative needs to clear before gathering signatures.
Melanie Folwell, organizer and spokesperson for Idahoans United for Women and Families, said the group is putting forward four policies for approval but will only select one to be circulated for signatures. ... Weve worked on these for a year now with stakeholders and lawyers, and we want to put that work in front of the secretary of state and the attorney general and, quite frankly, in front of the public, and then we will decide on the best course of action moving forward, Folwell said.
Idaho has a near-total ban on abortion with narrow exceptions for rape and incest during the first trimester of pregnancy and to save the pregnant patients life. Those convicted of performing an abortion face two to five years in prison and the revocation of their medical license, along with potential civil lawsuits from family members of the person who terminated a pregnancy.
Idaho was also at the center of
a U.S. Supreme Court case this year over whether the ban conflicts with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA, which requires hospitals to provide stabilizing emergency care to anyone who comes to a hospital that accepts Medicare funds. During a four-month span when the Supreme Court was weighing the case, doctors in
Idaho airlifted six patients to neighboring states for maternal complications rather than risk prosecution. A year earlier, only one needed to be airlifted.
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