BOISE, Idaho — As Idaho reels from an exodus of obstetricians, lawmakers have raised the alarm about the state’s doctor shortage — and this legislative session, they’ve put forward a raft of bills they said would address the problem.
Their efforts to do so have included proposals to allow doctors to refuse to perform procedures they don’t believe in; to limit the ability of a woman’s relatives to sue a physician who performs an abortion on her; and to cut back on Idaho’s involvement with the University of Washington’s medical school.
“Idaho faces a critical need for more physicians, particularly in rural and underserved areas,” Rep. Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello, said during a committee presentation of one of the bills to pull back involvement with the University of Washington’s multistate medical education program. The bill, he said, “is a serious attempt and a serious effort to strengthen Idaho’s medical workforce.”
But in recent years, medical professionals have been pushing for one notable proposal that has yet to move forward: letting doctors perform abortions to protect a pregnant patient’s health.
Idaho consistently ranks last among U.S. states for the number of physicians it has per capita. After a state ban on abortion took effect in 2022, more than one-fourth of obstetricians left Idaho. A survey by the Idaho Coalition for Safe Reproductive Healthcare showed that over 95 percent of the physicians considering leaving the state since the abortion ban would stay if the law were amended to add exceptions to preserve the mother’s health.
Under the current law, performing an illegal abortion is a felony that could warrant the suspension of revocation of doctors’ medical licenses or land them in jail for up to five years.
‘Elephant in the room’
Susie Keller, CEO of the Idaho Medical Association, said lawmakers are missing the mark. OB-GYNs’ real concerns relate to the state’s abortion ban, she said. The only exceptions for the procedure are in cases of reported rape or incest, ectopic pregnancies, or when the mother’s life is at risk.
That approach flies in the face of doctors’ medical training and has driven OB-GYNs away from Idaho, Keller said.
“The elephant in the room — the thing that absolutely has to be solved if we are ever going to put any kind of a dent in this deficit — is that we have got to pull back on Idaho’s frankly insane total abortion ban that has no health exception,” Rep. Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, told the Idaho Statesman.
Rubel sponsored a bill to repeal all of the state’s abortion bans, though it did not receive a hearing.
One Republican, Sen. Jim Woodward, R-Sagle, introduced a bill this session that would have allowed for such an exception, but it never received a hearing, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.
The law has created uncertainty and anxiety among doctors about what treatment is legally allowed, and when, Keller said.
