BOISE, Idaho — In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a court ruling in Roe v. Wade, allowing states to regulate or even ban abortions. Following the decision, Idaho lawmakers drafted a bill to ban abortions in the state, except for in the instance of a medical emergency risking the life of the mother, proven incest or rape.
However, with the new abortion legislation, a coalition of Idaho healthcare professionals claimed the law was unclear and did not clarify precisely how severe patients need to be before the abortion is deemed an emergency.
Initially, a meeting was planned for March 25, that was intended to allow the coalition to inform lawmakers that the bills being proposed and enacted are affecting the state's healthcare system. However, the hearing was canceled just hours after its announcement.
On Wednesday, the Women's Healthcare Informational Presentation was revived and held in the Lincoln Auditorium inside the statehouse.
Brian Whitlock, president of the Idaho Hospital Association, began the meeting by stating that their member hospitals are telling them because of Idaho's strict laws "candidates are now looking elsewhere."
"As physicians, we're trained to intervene when we recognize sickness. Not to watch an illness move along that line until death approaches," said Dr. Sara Thomson, a physician at Saint Alphonsus Medical. "Waiting is bad medicine and can be malpractice."
Thomson said the problem with Idaho's abortion law is it's only allowed to prevent death and not preserve the health of the mother.
She continued and state that women in Idaho are also having difficulty getting appointments with OB-GYN providers.
Dr. Megan Kasper, an OB-GYN at St. Luke's in Nampa told lawmakers what keeps her up at night is the evolving maternity care desert in the six counties she serves.
"[For] that population, we should have at a minimum 30 to 40 OB-GYNs, we currently have, depending on how you count it with some part-time people, we have 11 to 13 FTEs, of OB-GYN for that population of women," Dr. Kasper said.
Chief Physician Executive for St. Luke’s Jim Souza told KTVB it's critical for the public to understand the impacts of leaving medical professionals. And hopes the lawmakers recognize what is happening is real and that action to clarify the language in the law needs to happen.
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