National abortion debate and how it affects Idaho

Several states continue to create restrictive abortion laws, passing in more than 8 states, including in Utah. The rally at the Boise statehouse Tuesday was one many many protests across the country that oppose the recently enacted abortion laws.

Alabama, Georgi, and Missouri are putting into place strict anti-abortion laws that have nearly effectively banned the procedure unless the pregnancy is life-threating to the mother.

Abortion is currently legal in all 50 states since the case of Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal in 1973. However, in some states, there are very few facilities that perform abortion procedures as well as restrict abortions after six to eight weeks.

Planned Parenthood is at the forefront of this debate as they are among the only national organization that performs abortion procedures. There are only three Planned Parenthood facilities in the state. The closest facility to southeast Idaho is in Twin Falls.

Currently, the Idaho State Legislature is the anti-choice majority. Even though Idaho has not participated in the national debate, lawmakers have been working to restrict abortion rights here in the state over the past several years.

“It’s something we’ve been preparing for, for a long time,” state director of Planned Parenthood, Mistie Tolman said. “We’ve always been fighting back these bans. People are angry, they are mad and they don’t want their constitutional right to be taken away.”

Rep. Julianne Young (R-Dist. 31B), believes there should be stricter abortion laws and will support for future legislation. “It is an issue of concern to myself and to a number of my colleagues,” Young said.

Regardless of the anti-choice majority in the statehouse, Tolman says she’ll continue to fight for abortion rights. “Seven in ten Americans believe we should not be trying to overturn Roe and we should be continuing to ensure that constitutional right for people to access safe and legal abortion.”