On Tuesday, Idahoans rejected Prop 1, a ballot initiative that would've restored abortion rights in the state. Also called the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, it lost by about 56% of the votes.
Melanie Folwell, director of Idahoans United for Women and Families, the organization behind Prop 1 called the loss gutting. Unofficial results show nearly 319,000 Idahoans voted in support of the initiative and about 405,000 cast their ballot against it.
The Stop Prop 1 campaign, Too Extreme for Idaho, hammered the idea that the initiative would open the doors to “on-demand” abortions in the later months of a pregnancy, even though 20+ week terminations are extremely rare. They mostly happen when the fetus cannot survive because of a lethal anomaly or the life of the mother is in danger. Under Idaho’s current ban, physicians can provide terminations in case of rape, incest and in life-threatening emergencies.
Folwell called the tactics used by the Stop Prop 1 campaign blatant disinformation.
“There was just only so much we could do,” she said. “And the really sad reality is that everybody, no matter their political party or their background or their zip code in Idaho, will continue to pay the price.”
“This is a really profound loss for our medical community,” she said. “But chiefly it is a loss for every woman in Idaho, every woman who is planning a family or growing a family or getting pregnant anytime in the near future.”
“Our state has created an environment where women will continue to suffer needlessly under one of the most extreme abortion bans in the nation,” Folwell added.
