Abortion on the ballot in Idaho? Organizers are ‘confident’ initiative qualified
Idaho voters will likely see a hot-button political topic on their ballots this November as the organizers behind a proposed ballot initiative to carve out reproductive health care rights — including the right to abortion — say they believe they’ve met qualifications two weeks ahead of the state deadline.
Idahoans United for Women and Families, a nonprofit that formed in 2024 in response to strict abortion bans triggered in Idaho when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, announced Thursday that it has collected 102,000 signatures from registered voters statewide.
The organization has far exceeded one metric necessary to get an initiative on the ballot — 6% of the total registered voters at the time of the last general election, or about 70,700 signatures. Those signatures must be distributed from around the state and include at least 6% of voters in 18 of the state’s 35 legislative districts.
Idahoans United Executive Director Melanie Folwell told the Idaho Statesman in an interview that qualification is “a done deal” in 14 districts, and organizers are confident they will qualify when county clerks finish verifying voter signatures in an additional five districts.
“What has happened in Idaho with the ban is untenable overreach, and this is a chance to correct it,” Folwell said.
Ballot proposal would restore abortion access, protect contraception and more
The proposed ballot initiative would establish a right to “private reproductive health care decisions” on birth control, fertility treatment, miscarriage care and prenatal through postpartum care, among other provisions. It would also make abortion legal until fetal viability — around 24 weeks’ gestation — or in medical emergencies.
Idaho’s current laws only allow abortion in narrow circumstances: for ectopic or molar pregnancies, reported cases of rape or incest or when a pregnant patient’s life is at risk.
Though Idahoans United leaders are confident they’ve met state qualifications, Folwell said they’ll spend the next two weeks continuing to gather signatures ahead of the May 1 submission deadline. She said the organization hopes to pick up “bonus districts” in addition to the required 18 legislative districts.
Folwell said even though abortion is seen as a controversial issue, the roughly 1,100 volunteers collecting signatures for the ballot measure have seen support from “all kinds of people, including people of all partisanship.”
Idahoans United conducted polling as it crafted its ballot proposal language and found about 60% of Idaho residents said they would support it. Polling from Boise State University found similar results.
Folwell attributed the ballot initiative’s success to the tenacity of its signature-gathering volunteers.
“There’s such a strong stigma around talking about reproductive health and about abortion access, and that’s by design. So it takes some courage to do this, right?” she said.
She noted that the typical time period for circulating a ballot proposal is 18 months. Idahoans United has been collecting signatures for about 10 months after suing the Idaho attorney general and secretary of state over the draft ballot title and financial impact information that the nonprofit said was misleading.
The Idaho Supreme Court ruled in the nonprofit’s favor.
If Idahoans United’s initiative qualifies for the November ballot, it will need a simple majority of voters to approve it in order to pass.
“We have a legislature that has failed to act for four sessions, so it’s time for this,” Folwell said.
