IDAHO, USA — Planned Parenthood says it's clearing up confusion and launching a billboard campaign across Idaho to let women know they still have access to abortions in other states.
Pink billboards will soon be popping up across North Idaho, reminding women they still have access to abortion services in Washington and Oregon.
"Just because you ban abortion, does not mean the need for abortion stops," President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest Rebecca Gibron said. "What it does is make it harder for patients to access vital reproductive healthcare."
Gibron believes Idaho''s new abortion laws are intentionally vague.
"These anti-abortion laws are intended to do just what they're doing, which is to create fear and chaos and confusion and we need to do something about that," Gibron said.
Last August, abortion became illegal in the gem state in all cases except for rape with a police report, incest or a doctor's medical decision to prevent the death of a mother.
Gibron says she's heard from some women think they'll be arrested for getting an out-of-state abortion. It's what inspired her to create the billboards, which are already up around the boise area.
"So, people know it is not illegal, in fact, to leave the state of Idaho to access abortion care," Gibron said.
Gibron says Planned Parenthood clinics in Washington and Oregon have seen an uptick in patients, and not just from Idaho.
"People from Texas," Gibron said. "We have seen patients as far away as Louisiana."
Planned Parenthood is currently suing Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador, who in March said it would also be against the law for a doctor to refer a patient to an out of state abortion.
Labrador later rescinded that letter, saying it wasn't a formal legal opinion.
"We're not going to turn our backs on Idahoans in the same way that far-right extreme lawmakers have done," Gibron said. "We still provide a full range of reproductive healthcare services and gender affirming care services in the state of Idaho, we're not going anywhere."
While adult women can cross state lines to receive an abortion, it's illegal for an adult to transport a minor across state lines to get one without parent permission.
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