‘Theocracy taking over the government’ or ‘heart so full’: East Idaho divided on Dobbs
Eastern Idaho, along with the rest of America, entered the post-Roe world Friday.
As in much of the rest of the nation, opinions about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the half-century-old Roe v. Wade decision, which established that women have constitutionally protected right to seek an abortion, are sharply divided.
“Today, my heart is so full,” said Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, an active social conservative long opposed to abortion access. “Like many others, I am celebrating this decision not just for saving the lives of babies but also for the sake of the U.S. Constitution.”
“I’m being told I’m not a full person who can make decisions about my own health, or choices about my life,” said Miranda Marquit, Ehardt’s Democratic opponent in the upcoming general election. “We live in a country that was founded on the idea that people should have religious freedom, and they should be free from religious oppression. But now we find ourselves in a situation where one set of religious ideas is being forced on us.”
Marquit said the decision leaves her with the feeling that women are not only second-class citizens but considered less than human. Imagine there’s a corpse, she said. Its organs could save five living people. Can you harvest those organs? Only if they agreed to become an organ donor.
But if a woman in Idaho becomes pregnant, she will be forced to carry until birth.
“It’s very frustrating to realize that a corpse has more right to bodily autonomy than I do,” Marquit said.
That view resonated with a 62-year-old Idaho Falls woman. The Statesman agreed to keep her identity secret in order to protect her medical privacy.
Three decades ago, when she was in her early 30s and with children from a prior marriage, she and her husband decided to get an abortion.
“That was the best decision for our life,” she said. “It was hard, but it was the best decision for us. It was our choice to make.”
She worries about the next generation who will not have the same access.
“Having that choice taken away, they’re setting us back,” the Idaho Falls woman said. “They’re making us second-class citizens.”
Ehardt, on the other hand, was a supporter of Idaho’s 2020 trigger law, which will make abortion illegal within a few weeks. She said the law will send a clear message about what Idaho values.
“What we are saying is that Idaho will uphold life,” Ehardt said. “That is an important value that we as a state embrace. If this is not important to you, there are many other states that will welcome you to uphold your values.”
That sentiment deeply angered the Idaho Falls woman.
“On so many other issues, the legislators of this state do not respect life,” the Idaho Falls woman said. “They only respect what in their opinion is life when they can rule over a woman’s uterus. Excuse me? Tell me to go live in another state? That is theocracy taking over the government.”
This story was originally published June 24, 2022 at 2:37 PM.