Idaho could join at least four other states this fall in voting on the future of abortion access. That’s after the “Back to Idaho” initiative collected more than enough signatures by last week’s May 1 deadline.
Teton Valley advocates spent several months collecting signatures for the “Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act,” which would restore access to abortion up to the time of “viability” and in medical emergencies if passed. Already, “Idaho values life” signs advocating to keep the state’s abortion ban are starting to pop up around Teton Valley.
Under the 2022 ban, few exceptions are granted and providers risk criminal penalties. It has since pushed more than a third of Idaho’s OB-GYN’s out of the state, making routine care much harder to access in rural parts of the state.
Impacts have extended far beyond those seeking abortion services.
“There’s now a maternal healthcare desert,” Victor resident Carla Smith said. “It is often hours to emergency care and even to routine care for more complicated pregnancies.”
Smith practiced as a physician across Idaho for a decade. She was one of a few dozen gathering signatures for the initiative led by Idahoans United for Women and Families, with the aim of restoring care by 2027.
As maternal healthcare providers leave Idaho, women looking to start families are, too. In Teton Valley, that’s not just because the Driggs hospital closed its delivery unit more than two decades ago. Until a state supreme court ruling in 2025, Idaho’s ban narrowly defined medically life-threatening exceptions.
Kat Brand, of Tetonia, is one of many Teton Valley residents looking to Wyoming for routine pregnancy care and family planning. In late April, a Wyoming judge blocked the short-lived “Heartbeat Act,” which banned abortions after about six-weeks.
“My understanding is most women in the valley, out of concern for their safety, are opting for Jackson,” Brand said, “because Idaho Falls is in Idaho.”
Brand said there are more care options for complex pregnancies outside Idaho, where abortion bans didn’t prompt an exodus of providers. Since seeking care in Jackson involves a drive over Teton Pass, she said many women try to time their pregnancies to avoid winter driving.
“It’s just a shame to have to consider all of these other factors and just decide whether or not to even start a family,” Brand said.
