The Idahoans United for Women and Families has filed a petition with the Secretary of State Phil McGrane to introduce four initiatives on the 2026 ballot that would restore abortion rights in Idaho.
On Thursday, the organization filed language in a first step to ask Idahoans directly to revoke the state’s near total abortion ban.
Citing polling of about 600 Idahoans, spokesperson for the coalition, Melanie Folwell, said most people in the state don't believe that the government should have a right to interfere in private medical decisions.
“We've been sold this narrative of either or, black and white, you’re pro-choice or pro-life,” she said. “Actually, most Idahoans are somewhere on a continuum.”
Under Idaho Code, most abortions are banned with some exceptions allowed when the life of the mother is in danger, or in cases of rape and incest. Physicians can face felony charges, up to five years in prison, and risk losing their medical license for terminating abortions outside of those narrow parameters.
The group submitted four initiative proposals that would reinstate abortion access, with one including language protecting contraception and fertility treatment like IVF. The proposals would legalize abortions under various circumstances and different term limits, including in cases of rape and incest, before fetal viability, and to preserve the health of the mother in medical emergencies.
The group says they’ll select one of the four proposed measures based on feedback but to get the measure on the ballot, they will have to gather signatures representing at least 6% of eligible voters in the most recent election, from at least 18 of Idaho’s 35 legislative districts.
“We are ready to build out the kind of team and volunteer effort across the state to gather to hit that threshold of probably upwards of 70,000 signatures and hit the threshold in qualifying,” Folwell said, adding the group is confident it will meet the ballot measures’ requirements.
“It's hard to sit with inaction while we continue to hear about doctors leaving the state. We continue to hear about women in dire medical emergencies. We continue to hear about just the difficulties of navigating our state's quite extreme abortion laws.”
Folwell said Idahoans United is expecting pushback from legislators and state officials.
“We know that politicians kind of got us into this mess, and politicians are probably not our best way out of this mess,” she said. “We have an attorney general who has been hostile to both the ballot initiative process and access to all kinds of reproductive care so we know we're in for a challenge.”
“I look forward to working with the proponents to craft true and impartial ballot titles for these proposed initiatives, as required by Idaho law,” the Attorney General Raúl Labrador wrote in an email.
His office has 20 days to review the petition and recommend changes.
