Voters rejected an Idaho ballot measure that would have codified the right to abortion up to fetal viability, NBC News projects.
The ruling preserves Idaho’s abortion ban, which took effect in 2022 following the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, who guaranteed the right to abortion nationwide.
The Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act initiative, also known as Proposition 1, would have taken effect in 2027. Proposition 1 would have allowed the government to regulate abortion only after fetal viability, except in cases of medical emergency to save the woman’s life.
Follow live news from the midterm elections
The initiative defines fetal viability as a fetus having “a significant probability of durable survival outside the womb without extraordinary medical measures.” Fetal viability is generally estimated to be around six months after the start of pregnancy, or between 23 and 24 weeks.
Proposition 1 stated that reproductive health care should be decided “by an individual in consultation with his or her health care provider.”
“The law supports an individual’s right to reproductive freedom and privacy, protects the confidential nature of the patient-provider relationship, and guarantees an individual’s right to make their own health care decisions without government interference,” it states.
Proposition 1 would have given everyone in Idaho the right to “reproductive freedom and privacy,” which was defined as “the right to make personal reproductive health care decisions that directly impact a person’s own body.”
The initiative says Idahoans have the right to make their own decisions about abortion, birth care, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and prenatal, pregnancy and postpartum care.
According to the Center for Reproductive Rights website, from 2022 to the beginning of this year, 11 states have expanded access to abortion and reproductive care since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.
Nearly a third of Idaho OB-GYNs moved, stopped practicing or retired between August 2022 and December 2024, according to a study published in a medical journal.
Gn headline
