Prop 1 defeated

Proposition 1, a ballot measure to expand abortion rights, saw its fortunes sour as more election returns came in Tuesday evening. Around midnight, “No” votes had taken the lead with about 55% of the vote, with nearly 600,000 votes counted. The gap was over 65,000 votes.

“The tide has turned,” Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon told attendees at an election night watch party. She told the Idaho Statesman she thought opposition to the initiative was a “main driver” of Republican voter turnout and said she was confident that later returns coming from North Idaho would bury the measure.

Prop 1 had been holding an early lead while Ada County returns were dominating the results. It had received 56.9% “Yes” votes in the Boise area as of midnight.

In Kootenai County, Prop 1 was soundly rejected, with 50,558 no votes, 66.37%, to 25,613 yes votes, 33.63%, with all 74 precincts reporting in.

“The people of Idaho have spoken,” said Stop Prop 1 communications director Mary Strow, in a press release. “They saw through the smokescreen of deception and barrage of out-of-state funded ads that sought to rewrite our laws and reshape our values. Idaho is and will always be a state that values life and protects the unborn.”

Leaders of Too Extreme for Idaho, the political action committee that spearheaded the fight against Prop 1, said around 11 p.m. that things were playing out pretty much as they expected. Early and absentee voting had broken more for Prop 1, but later returns were heavily in opponents’ favor, they told the Statesman.

“This is how it plays out every election cycle, and it brings a bit of panic,” said Tom Luna, a board member of the campaign against Prop 1. “You see this huge deficit, and you know from experience that it will turn around.” 

The election brings to a close a pitched battle to expand abortion rights in Idaho, and to prevent the state from prohibiting or interfering with reproductive healthcare, including contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage management and childbirth care. The proposed legislation would legalize abortion up to the point of fetal viability or in medical emergencies.

The fight drew record levels of fundraising, and legal action, this election season. The “arms race” of contributions for and against the ballot measure, called the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act Initiative, tested Idaho campaign finance laws, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane said. 

As of Tuesday afternoon, Idahoans United for Women and Families — the organization that got Prop 1 on the ballot — had received $4.9 million in donations, spread across 7,500 contributions.

Too Extreme for Idaho, the primary organization opposing the initiative, had received $4.6 million, spread across about 300 contributions. That included $1.3 million in donations from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and Catholic Diocese. 

Doctors came out in force in support of the initiative, with nearly 400 signing a letter that said Idaho’s current abortion ban endangers pregnant women. Nearly 100 doctors signed a separate letter arguing that the wording of Prop 1 would go too far in expanding abortion access.

And the initiative drew legal action, including a failed bid by opponents to block Prop 1’s TV advertising, which they claimed was funded illegally. A Canyon County judge found that the plaintiffs had presented “insufficient evidence” that Prop 1’s supporters had violated campaign finance law. 

Idaho GOP has threatened to overturn Prop 1, if passed To get Prop 1 on the ballot, supporters gathered over 110,000 signatures from all of Idaho’s 44 counties, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.

Once they did, opponents dialed up their efforts. The Idaho Republican Party, in particular, heavily publicized its opposition. At its annual meeting in June, members approved a resolution to call on state lawmakers to repeal the abortion initiative if it were to pass. 

Several Republican legislative candidates said they supported doing just that, the Idaho Capital Sun reported in July. 

It was a concern Melanie Folwell, the executive director of Idahoans United for Women and Families, alluded to during an October rally. It wouldn’t be enough for Prop 1 to win, she told the crowd. 

“We need to win so big they won’t dare,” she said.

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Reporter Mark Dee contributed.