Access to abortion in Idaho could soon be cut back, pending a couple of court decisions, affecting thousands of women who want one.
About 2,000 Idahoans got an abortion either here or out of state in 2020, according to the most recent data available from state health officials. That’s down from a high of about 2,700 in 1981.
The women most likely to seek an abortion were between the ages of 20-24, weren’t married and had never undergone the procedure before.
Eighty-five percent of them occurred prior to 10 weeks of pregnancy.
Just three clinics here offer abortions. Of the 433 patients who left the state to get an abortion, most of them were from the northern part of Idaho and went to Washington.
A draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court leaked last week could result in the ban of most abortions in Idaho this summer.
State lawmakers also passed a bill this year that would outlaw most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, but it’s currently being challenged.
States Newsroom reported last month that the Portland branch of Planned Parenthood could open a clinic in Ontario, Oregon, about an hour's drive west of Boise.
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