OPINION: Abortion is the issue that may decide the attorney general race
The attorney general race in Idaho might be decided by an issue that has not been marked by public clashes between the candidates, Raúl Labrador and Lori Hickman. Labrador may experience strong backlash from voters for his over-the-top interpretation and enforcement of Idaho’s strictest-in-the-nation abortion law.
Labrador has made abortion the highest-priority issue during his tenure, trying to enforce an extreme interpretation of the total abortion ban that passed the Legislature in 2020. It banned abortion from the point of conception, except to prevent the death of the mother. Doctors would face the loss of their license and 2-5 years in prison if they could not show an abortion was required to prevent the woman’s death.
Legislators passed the total ban as merely a political statement in 2022, with little consideration of its severe restrictions or how it would impact women with dangerous pregnancies and their caregivers. It was a “trigger law” that would only become law if the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision was overturned. At the time, nobody thought that was going to happen. But it did in 2022 and the total ban was triggered into law in January 2023. Women and their doctors have been plagued by its severe restrictions ever since.
Many legislators have recognized the necessity of dialing back the total ban restrictions. The fact that many women have had to be sent to Utah for lifesaving care that would be a felony offense for doctors to provide in Idaho speaks volumes. Yet, legislators are fearful of trying to dial back the extreme law. Labrador, however, has not had enough of abortion extremism. He is supporting the 2026 GOP platform, which takes abortion to a whole new level. It says: “human personhood begins at the moment of fertilization…the act of abortion is murder…We support the criminalization of all murders by abortion.” That includes “persons conceived in rape and incest.”
Labrador and the other GOP culture warriors have fueled support for Prop 1, the citizen initiative. The main thing Prop 1 would do is strike the total ban from Idaho’s law books and replace it with reasonable restrictions that most voters would accept. Opponents have sent out a torrent of misinformation on social media about what Prop 1 would do, trying to provoke a no vote. The initiative is written in clear, understandable language that voters can read for themselves at unitedforyes.com/prop-1-full-text. They should certainly do so.
If Prop 1 passes, the Legislature will certainly try to amend or repeal it next January. After the people have spoken, many legislators will be reluctant to try to repeal it, but they may be able to come together and fashion reasonable limitations that pregnant women and their doctors can live with.
Labrador’s war against medically necessary abortion care may have a side effect that he did not anticipate. His take-no-prisoner attitude on abortion has created an atmosphere of fear among many Idaho women and their medical caregivers. He will likely face significant backlash on election day. Prop 1 will likely bring out many voters who want to repeal the total ban and punish the person responsible for causing 35% of obstetricians to abandon their practice in Idaho. Labrador may reap the bitter rewards of the heartache and pain he has sown.
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Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served 8 years as Idaho Attorney General (1983-1991) and 12 years as Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). He also publishes at substack.com/@jjcommontater.