State legislatures remain on the frontlines of protecting access to reproductive care
WASHINGTON — Last week, Idaho Republican Sen. Dan Foreman introduced a bill that would remove rape and incest as exemptions to the state’s abortion ban. This comes on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court allowing an extreme abortion ban to go into effect in Idaho earlier this month – criminalizing anyone who performs or attempts to perform an abortion. Additionally, a bill that criminalized helping minors leave the state for abortion care without parental consent was passed in the legislature but was temporarily blocked by courts in November. Prior to all of this, Idaho already had some of the most dangerous abortion bans in the country in effect but the Republican legislature has made it clear with these recent actions that it is their priority to go even further.
This dire situation in Idaho underscores the most important development since the fall of Roe: State legislatures are now the ultimate arbiters of reproductive rights in the country.
Dobbs v. Jackson reverted decisions around abortion access to the states, overturning Roe and paving the way for 24 Republican-led state legislatures, like Idaho’s, to enact restrictive, draconian, anti-abortion legislation. The reversal of Roe was a political earthquake that created a patchwork of state regulations, ultimately stripping millions of people of their reproductive freedom and creating life-or-death challenges for patients across the country. We’re seeing the most dangerous effects of this playing out in Idaho today. This disregard for reproductive care has had chilling effects on pregnant patients in Idaho. We’ve already seen a slew of OB-GYNs and maternity care providers flee the state including two hospitals closing maternity wards last year.
Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee Communications Director Abhi Rahman issued the following statement:
“What Idaho Republicans are doing is absolutely egregious, extreme, and dangerous. Since the Dobbs decision, GOP legislatures across the country have used their new powers to attack our rights and freedoms and they continue to push their proposals to reach new extremes. This should ring the alarm bells for everybody in this country because while this proposal in Idaho is the latest attack on reproductive rights, it certainly won’t be the last.
“Republicans are not going to stop in their efforts to roll back rights in this country and this new legislation in Idaho underscores the critical role state legislatures play in this fight. The only way to truly protect abortion access is to elect more Democrats to state legislatures across the country.”
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) is the official Democratic Party committee dedicated to winning America’s state legislatures and building state infrastructure. Over the last decade, we have fought cycle-over-cycle to gain a dozen new legislative chamber majorities and we are leading the effort to bring national attention and investment to our ballot level. State legislatures are the building blocks of our democracy and have the closest connections to Americans’ day-to-day lives. From protecting fundamental freedoms and voting rights to growing the middle class, the DLCC and state legislators are moving the Democratic agenda forward and shaping the future of this country.
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