The U.S. Supreme Court is putting abortion access to the test, and decisions this year could mean big changes in states such as Idaho.
Justices have heard oral arguments on a case in Mississippi which would ban abortions after 15 weeks. They also sent a Texas case, which effectively bans abortions after six weeks, back to a federal appellate court, which will hear arguments Friday.
Mistie DelliCarpini-Tolman, Idaho state director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, said if abortion is banned in the state, the average distance to a clinic will increase from 21 miles to 250, and argued it is unfeasible for the average Idahoan.
"That is going to disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, Latinx, people of color, LGBTQ people, young people, people with disabilities and people with low incomes," DelliCarpini-Tolman outlined. "It's going to be even harder for these communities that already have barriers to accessing health care."
About 400,000 Idaho women of reproductive age would lose access to abortion under this scenario, according to the Guttmacher Institute. If Idaho bans abortion, the organization estimates about three-quarters of women will travel to Washington state for care and the rest will travel to Colorado.
Blaine Conzatti, president of the Idaho Family Policy Center, a nonprofit Christian ministry, said the best outcome for opponents of abortion like him is the Supreme Court returns the issue to the states.
"If that happens and Roe v. Wade is overturned entirely, a 2020 law that was passed by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Brad Little would go into effect," Conzatti explained. "It's called a trigger law, and that would ban abortion from conception with a few exceptions, including rape and incest and life of the mother."
Conzatti acknowledged even if it happened, there likely will be years-long battles in state courts to put bans into effect.
DelliCarpini-Tolman contended it is important to remind people, despite a Supreme Court which seems more favorable to abortion opponents, no decision has been made yet.
"For now, Roe is still the law of the land, abortion is still safe and legal in Idaho," DelliCarpini-Tolman asserted. "And we're going to continue to do everything in our power to keep it that way."
A decision on the Mississippi case from the highest court in the land is expected this summer.
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Pro-choice advocates are calling on voters to make access to abortion a big issue in the November midterm election. The countdown has begun; in less than a month, North Dakota's trigger law will make abortion illegal except to save the pregnant person's life, since the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade.
Amy Jacobson, executive director of Prairie Action ND, said a lot of North Dakotans want access to abortion care.
"North Dakota voters rejected an abortion ban in 2014 by a two-to-one margin. Those are Republican voters defeating an abortion ban in our state," Jacobson pointed out. "I would just really call on them to reflect on where their party is going and what this means for the people of our state. "
The state Legislature, citing religious and moral objections, tried to add an abortion ban to the state constitution, but the accompanying ballot measure failed in 2014.
In mid-May, pro-choice protesters held "Ban Off Our Bodies" rallies in Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks and Minot. More are planned for early July. The state's only abortion provider, the Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo, announced plans to move across the border to Moorhead, Minnesota in the near future.
Jacobson laments what she calls an ultraconservative takeover of the Republican Party.
"This decision really comes from the right-wing majority of extremist judges that have undermined the fundamental right to make our own decisions about our health care, our bodies, and our families," Jacobson asserted.
North Dakota already has a ban on abortion consultations via telehealth. Jacobson predicts when the next legislative session begins in January, lawmakers will introduce bills to further restrict abortion, by making it illegal to travel to another state for an abortion or to help someone else do so.
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The South Dakota state Legislature is expected to convene in a special session to reassess abortion laws. Gov. Kristi Noem vowed to call the special session in the wake of the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The ruling triggered South Dakota's ban, so abortion is now illegal except to save the woman's life.
Shannon Olivieri Hovis, California director for NARAL Pro-choice America, slammed the ruling.
"We are talking about more than 33 million women who will lose that access to abortion in their own communities in their home states," Olivieri Hovis asserted. "And some may be at risk of criminalization for accessing self-managed abortion in their states. And some will die."
Noem, who is running for reelection, has said she does not support an exception for cases of rape or incest, but instead is promoting a new website called life.SD.gov, which promises to provide "resources for pregnancy, new parents, financial assistance and adoption."
In 2006 and 2008, South Dakota voters rejected ballot measures to ban abortion in the state. Olivieri Hovis thinks the state Legislature is out of touch with public opinion.
"Eight in 10 Americans support the legal right to abortion," Olivieri Hovis pointed out. "That does not mean every one of those eight people would choose abortion for themselves, but they do not believe that anyone else should be making that decision."
The Legislature is expected to consider proposals to tighten abortion restrictions. For now, it remains legal to travel to other states such as Minnesota for abortion care and websites like abortionfinder.org and abortionfunds.org have sprung up to facilitate it.
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The California state Legislature is expected to vote, as early as today, to place a measure on the November ballot to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution.
The move is a reaction to the decision Friday by the Supreme Court to reverse Roe v. Wade and lift federal abortion protections. Nearly half the states are expected to make abortion illegal.
Rob Bonta, the state's Attorney General, however, slammed the ruling.
"This decision is an attack on privacy, on freedom, on self-determination, on equality," Bonta asserted. "This decision is an attack on women."
Abortion opponents cite religious and moral objections. Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1666, which protects California abortion providers from civil liability based on laws in other states, which may prohibit people from traveling to get abortion care.
Sen. Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, Senate President Pro-tem, vowed to help abortion seekers from other states.
"Those inhumane laws will not cross California borders," Atkins stressed. "We will not leave women and families impacted by the fall of Roe v. Wade and the backward, reckless policies of other states without options. We will not do that. We are here to further rights, not take them away. "
In May, when the Supreme Court decision leaked, Newsom proposed a $125 million package to bolster the state's ability to handle an influx of patients from other states. His wife, first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, spoke out strongly against the court's rollback of women's rights.
"This is toxic masculinities at work in the highest court in the country," Siebel Newsom emphasized. "Domination and control of women's bodily autonomy is so deeply ingrained in the patriarchy that unfortunately still rules our country."
A package of other bills designed to increase access is expected to cross the governor's desk in the next few weeks. People looking for help to pay for an abortion or traveling to get one can find information at abortionfunds.org.
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