Don't Give Up On Anti-Choice States: An Example from Idaho
| Sara K.
Spread the word
|
|
By Sara Kiesler, communications specialist at Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest
It would be easy to get despondent and whiny in Idaho, throwing up our hands and saying “what gives!” The Gem State is notorious for anti-choice attacks on women’s health again and again, year after year. As Mississippians proved in November when they voted down the “personhood” ballot initiative, voters hold the power to decide when legislation has gone too far. Idaho recently reiterated this sentiment, proving that taking a stand, even in a conservative state, to protect women’s access to comprehensive health care can absolutely make a difference.
On February 20, during a House Health and Welfare committee hearing in Boise, so many women and men packed the legislative building that the chairman warned they were “close to violating a fire code.” Why were so many Idahoans gathered? They were there because a new bill, HB530, threatened to take away women’s access to health insurance coverage of birth control. Under the proposed bill, any employer would have been allowed to deny women coverage of contraception, for any reason. But the men and women of Idaho were not going to sit silently.
Nearly 20 Idahoans testified against the bill, including a former legislator who spoke about her use of birth control to stop acne scarring as a teenager. The testimony was so powerful, even the press took notice. Perhaps most notably, after a Republican legislator and physician spoke out against the bill, saying among other things that birth control pills “are expensive,” the committee realized an attack on contraception was not a winning issue, and voted to table the bill, which essentially killed it. However, the fight is far from over, as the bill is being brought forward with new language. Here in Idaho, we are organizing and working every day to ensure our presence at the second hearing is as big as the first, and birth control access is protected.
We can only hope that the women and men who joined us on February 20 will continue to speak out as three more anti-choice bills are brought up in the state legislature. Anti-women’s health politicians in Idaho are trying to follow the lead of states like Virginia by working to pass laws that would further restrict access to women’s health. A new ultrasound bill, (SB 1349), would require women seeking abortion care to have a state-mandated ultrasound, thereby forcing the government in the middle of the private affairs of women and their doctors. Another bill, SJM104, would reject the Obama Administration’s rule to protect birth control without co-pays. Finally, HJM10, the carte blanche approval of the Blunt amendment (which was defeated in the Senate today), would allow any corporation or employer to deny insurance coverage based on a so-called "moral conviction".
These bills have nothing to do with supporting Idaho women’s health. They are merely means for the anti-women’s health politicians to advance their own agendas. Although the ever-growing wall between women and their health care may be adding bricks daily, we believe if Idahoans continue to stand up for women, we can chip away at these anti-choice bills one by one! Take action to protect women’s health in Idaho today.
Photo Credit: Carl Bergstrom
