Recent Idaho legislation regarding women’s health is creating at least three harmful situations.
- The state government is interfering with women’s freedoms to make their own health decisions
- Pregnant women are unable to solve pregnancy problems within Idaho’s health system.
- Doctors are leaving Idaho because they fear fines/prison/loss of license when helping pregnant women. Replacing them is exceedingly difficult because of Idaho’s women’s health legal environment.
Quick to charge women with crimes and ready to lock them up, the men of the Idaho Legislature know what’s best for women!? An ugly truth and it is going to get worse.
A summary of each story is shown below. Links to each story are shown for the reader to access the entire story.
The following first 3 stories all come from KTVB News, Boise, June 20, 2024 (pages 12-17)
First Story: “Lauren” learned she was pregnant with twins about 8 weeks in. She developed a shortened cervix which probably needed emergency surgery. One day she woke up bleeding and needed to take an air ambulance to Utah. After she arrived, she learned there was still a chance she could heal. After 11 days in the Utah hospital she was allowed to return to Idaho with the twins being OK. The ordeal was extremely stressful and left her disappointed in Idaho health laws.
Second Story: Rebecca Vincen-Brown learned she was pregnant with a second child in late 2022. She didn’t expect the new Idaho laws would affect her. Later, she was shocked and mad when it happened. Her baby was not going to survive. She had to leave Idaho without her husband. The stress and cost of leaving her home was a terrifying experience. She ended up passing the baby in her hotel room with her 2-year-old daughter just outside the bathroom door.
Third Story: Jullaine St. Michel’s second pregnancy went smoothly until the 20 week anatomy scan showed the baby wasn’t developing properly. Her personal health was endangered, and they made the difficult decision to abort the baby. They were forced to leave Idaho and incur substantial expenses and stress as a result.
Fourth Story: by NBC News Fallon Gallagher and Laura Jarrett April 24, 2024
Mother describes leaving Idaho for abortion as Supreme Court considers state’s ban (nbcnews.com)
Jennifer Adkins learned her baby was unlikely to survive in the womb and her own health could be in jeopardy. She needed to leave Idaho to get treatment. “We were both (husband John) disgusted by the treatment of our state.”
Fifth Story: by New York Times Kate Zernike June 28, 2024
Nicole Miller woke up with heavy bleeding in her 20th week. The doctor told her she would need to leave Idaho to get treatment. St. Luke’s, Boise put her on a plane to Utah. She needed to stay alive to care for her other two kids. Her baby was aborted and now she fears trying to have another baby in Idaho.
Sixth story: MedicalXpress by Jazmin Orozcco Rodriguez, KFF news July 8, 2024
Idaho’s OB-GYN exodus throws women in rural towns into a care void (medicalxpress.com)
Jonell Anderson’s ultrasound found a mass growing her uterus. She was forced to leave her Northern Idaho community to obtain testing and treatment because state laws had forced the local OB-GYN to leave town about a year ago. The growth was not cancerous but she remained concerned about the lack of local doctors. “People don’t feel safe”
