North Idaho legislators bring bill to add health exceptions to state’s abortion ban

North Idaho legislators on Friday introduced a bill to add exceptions to Idaho’s strict abortion ban, the first effort in two years to create a health exception.

Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle, introduced the bill to the Senate State Affairs Committee to allow doctors to provide an abortion “to prevent a serious health risk to the mother” and to provide an abortion to women whose fetus “was diagnosed with a lethal fetal anomaly.” 

Under Idaho’s abortion ban, a physician may provide an abortion if it’s to “prevent the death of the pregnant woman.” However, medical providers have said this wording does not make it clear if physicians can provide an abortion to prevent detrimental health outcomes, such as preeclampsia, hemorrhaging or the loss of future fertility.

This has led pregnant patients with severe health complications or fetal anomalies to seek an abortion out of state, as their providers could not perform an abortion without risking criminal charges — a problem that doctors have said is exacerbating the state’s existing physician shortage. The state lost 22% of its OB-GYN workforce and more than half the specialists who handle high-risk pregnancies in the 15 months after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a report from the Idaho Coalition for Safe Healthcare.

The committee voted to introduce the bill, but Senate Majority Leader Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, said it will not move forward for a full hearing. 

“I’m OK with introducing this legislation to have it out for public consumption, understanding that we’re not planning on moving forward with the public hearing this year,” Den Hartog told the committee. “I think this is an important conversation. I have many serious and grave concerns with the legislation as drafted.”

Den Hartog did not elaborate on what her concerns are.

This is not the first bill of its kind. During the 2023 legislative session, Republican legislators introduced a bill to add an exception for an abortion to be performed “to treat a physical condition of the woman that if left untreated would be life-threatening.” But House State Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, pulled the bill from the agenda the day it was supposed to receive a hearing amid criticism from anti-abortion groups, and it did not move forward, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported.