Freedom to access health care is disappearing in Idaho. This election matters | Opinion

As a third-generation Idahoan raising the fourth, I’ve always known Idaho to be a place where neighbors take care of each other. We see each other, listen, and act out of kindness and community. But lately, I’ve felt a disconnect between these values and the laws being passed by those in power. What I’m hearing is frustration — people are fed up with extreme policies that don’t represent us, yet we keep electing the same politicians responsible for them.

Polling tells us what I see every day: Idahoans don’t support the extreme abortion and LGBTQ+ bans pushed through the Legislature. A 2024 Boise State University poll found 65% of Idahoans disapprove of the near-total abortion ban, which has devastated health care access.

Yet, we’re living under laws that force doctors out of the state and put patients in life-threatening situations. Doctors have told me about agonizing decisions under their oath to do no harm — fearing license loss for providing essential care but knowing their patients could die if they don’t act.

This isn’t the Idaho I know.

Our Legislature is out of touch with its citizens. The same 2024 poll showed 75% of Idahoans support some form of legal abortion access, particularly in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is at risk. But the laws being introduced and passed — from removing rape and incest exceptions to criminalizing parents helping minors access legal abortion care — don’t reflect the majority opinion. Instead, they push the agendas of a small group more focused on control than protecting Idahoans’ health and well-being.

It’s not just about abortion. The LGBTQ+ community — especially trans youth — has been relentlessly targeted by harmful and unnecessary legislation. Three anti-trans laws (HB 668, HB 421 and HB 538) passed despite overwhelming opposition from the community and health experts. I stood in the Legislature and listened to LGBTQ+ Idahoans share heartbreaking stories about how these laws would impact their families. They spoke of fear, of being driven out of the state and of feeling abandoned by a government that’s supposed to protect them.

Then, I watched lawmakers ignore them and vote for the bills anyway.

This moment stayed with me because it’s emblematic of what’s happening across our state. Politicians aren’t listening. Their inability to hear us is literally killing us. A recent study found anti-trans laws have increased suicide attempts among transgender and non-binary young people by 7–72%. The Trevor Project found that 52% of LGBTQ youth in Idaho seriously considered suicide in the past year.

And while Idaho fought the Supreme Court over EMTALA regulations, six Idahoans had to be life-flighted

out of state for emergency abortion care. At least five women — one in Indiana, two in Georgia, and two in Texas — have died from deferred life-saving abortion care due to restrictive abortion bans like Idaho’s. We also recently heard evidence of the heartbreaking impact of SB 1329, a bill that passed just 9 months ago, on a 13-year-old from McCall.

I’m holding my breath, fearing the next headline out of our state.

I am a naturally positive person, but this has become very clear: We cannot rely on politicians or the courts to save us. If we want real, meaningful change — and to protect our access to safe reproductive health care, IUDs and IVF — we need to save ourselves.

In 2022, swing districts showed us that when Idahoans vote, we can flip critical seats. It also showed that reproductive freedom is a winning issue, as we endorsed 11 incumbents in 2024. This November, let’s do it again: Your vote can break the supermajority’s grip and elect reasonable, fearless leaders who will fight for us. It could be the vote that helps build toward an Idaho where we are all safe, free and able to live our truths.

I’ve been doing this work for a long time, and something feels different this year. You feel it too, right? We’ve lived the injustice of relentless pursuit of control over our bodies, and we’re done. No more political games on the backs of Idahoans. It’s time to turn the page.

The stakes are high. I love my home state, and I want our leadership to reflect the good we see, hear and make happen every day. We decide our future, Idaho — and it starts at the ballot box.