MY TURN: Idaho Legislators must do what is right, rather than what is easy

Idaho once led the nation in the support of women’s rights. My cousin, attorney Allen Derr, raised in Clark Fork, Idaho, was known for his role in Reed V. Reed. This Nov. 22, 1971, Supreme Court decision held that states cannot discriminate against people because of their gender. The case involved client Sally Reed, who sued her estranged husband, Cecil, over who should administer the estate of their late son following his suicide.

Originally, the Probate court ruled that the husband must prevail because an Idaho statute preferred males over females. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, then an ACLU attorney, authored the legal brief and Allen Derr gave the oral argument before the Supreme Court. In essence, Derr and Ginsburg argued that the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution forbade discrimination based on gender. They won.

Ginsburg went on to become a Supreme Court Justice. Allen Derr had a distinguished career as an attorney in Boise. I am sure that his strength of character came from his father Sen. Alfred M. Derr, and especially his mother Hattie. In 1937, when Alfred Derr required surgery, Hattie served in his seat — becoming the first woman senator to serve in the Idaho Legislature.

Derr and Ginsberg’s work became a landmark decision and a legal platform for other important legal decisions regarding equal rights for women. Later, Ginsburg wrote, “A woman’s right to choose an abortion is something central to a woman’s life, to her dignity … And when government controls that decision for her, she’s being treated as less than a full adult human being responsible for her own choices.”

In 1973 Roe V. Wade was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the court ruled that the Constitution of the United States generally protected a right to have an abortion. However, in 2023, with a draconian abortion ban in place, Idaho women now have fewer rights than they did in 1973. Don’t let the KCRCC or the Idaho “Freedom” Foundation (IFF) convince you that they are all about the individual’s rights. They are not. The undue influence of the IFF/John Birch Society on Idaho’s Legislature has been seriously damaging to women’s rights and health.

Meanwhile, former President Jimmy Carter has been a powerful voice for women, calling out violence against women. A Carter Center representative wrote, “Taking medical care out of the hands of women and their doctors will undermine the health and well-being of half the nation’s population. Regardless of your position on abortion, we should all agree on better health care for all Americans. And the net effect of today’s ruling will be worse health outcomes for women — especially marginalized groups who suffer the most when rights are not protected.”

Ironically, in Sandpoint, just a short drive from Clark Fork, where Allen Derr was raised, the city and surrounding areas have lost the OB-GYN ward, and doctors have been leaving our state because responsible and ethical care of women puts them at risk of lawsuits. Idaho already had a dearth of doctors, but now badly needed doctors are streaming out of the state, and that puts women at risk. What we are suffering is both inequality and a form of violence against women. Women may die when they don’t get needed healthcare. Patients with pre-existing health problems or incomplete miscarriages are common. Some pregnancies may not be viable, and patients may face the risk of death or disability.

There’s not one OB-GYN doctor in the state legislature, and yet that body has had the audacity to make reproductive health policy for every woman in Idaho. One woman from Boise suffered a 19-day miscarriage because she couldn’t get a doctor to provide a D & C to stop the bleeding. In states with extremist laws like ours, women have been forced to carry to term (or to seek abortion in another state) a fetus without a skull and part of its head, a fetus without part of its brain, and a fetus without kidneys. A 10-year-old rape victim had to travel from her home in Ohio to another state to receive an abortion. Imagine the callousness and cruelty of forcing childbirth on an already traumatized 10-year-old.

In a CNN article written by Randi Kayle and Stephen Samaniego, Dr. Lauren Miller, who is also the head of the Idaho Coalition for Safe Reproductive Health, told CNN that, “Of the 117 doctors she informally surveyed in Idaho, 75 answered ‘yes’ or ‘maybe’ when asked if they were considering leaving the state at least in part because of the abortion laws.” Miller told CNN that, “Five of the nine remaining full-time maternal-fetal medicine physicians in the state will have left by the end of the year [2023].”

While the Idaho legislature plays culture war games with women’s lives and reproductive health, defying the pro-choice views of a majority of Idaho’s voters, we can see how the minority culture of the Idaho IFF/John Birch Society has influenced lawmakers. In turn, we can see how the IFF/KCRCC has damaged our schools and libraries. The chaos at North Idaho College is just one important example of how extremist ideologies are harming our state. Their views are at odds with the strong individualism of Idaho’s voters. Idahoans don’t need nanny state John Birchers telling us how to live nor who to vote for.

In 2017, the U.N. Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice wrote, “The right of a woman or girl to make autonomous decisions about her own body and reproductive functions is at the very core of her fundamental right to equality and privacy, concerning intimate matters of physical and psychological integrity.”

Extreme right-wing members of the Idaho Legislature, unduly influenced by the IFF/John Birch Society, have insulted the women of Idaho by treating us as though we’re second-class citizens and lesser humans. It’s time to push back and take back what belongs to us — our rights, equality and autonomy. As Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, “I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.”

As for those in our state legislature who have imposed their IFF-inspired will upon the majority, I will only add that they could take a lesson from one Allen Derr. Sally Reed had approached 16 attorneys before Derr took her case. His bravery and decency made a difference in this world.

Be like Allen Derr and do what is right rather than what is easy.

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Ethel Steinmetz Marmont is a Coeur d’Alene resident.