Exactly 1,255 volunteers fanned out across Idaho’s rural 35 legislative districts to collect signatures, knocking on 66,000 doors and ultimately gathering more than 110,000.
asserted
volunteers → fan → 110,000
Not a single one was paid – a rarity in today’s politics.
asserted
one → pay → politics
This effort was in service of Proposition 1, which asks voters a single question: Should abortion be legal in Idaho?
asserted
abortion → ask → Idaho
A “yes” vote would lift one of the most restrictive abortions bans in the nation.
asserted
vote → lift → nation
“We’re not a large population state – we’re a flyover state, we’re a very red state,” said Melanie Folwell, the lead organizer of the Idahoans United for Women and Families, the group organizing the initiative, “and it’s very easy to forget about a million women and girls.
asserted
it → ’re → women
As Republicans delay major action on abortion until after the election, and Democrats focus on issues like affordability, high-stakes reproductive rights battles have faded from national attention even as they affect millions of women and girls.
asserted
they → delay → women
“It speaks to the very reason we had to run an initiative – because no one was coming to save us in Idaho,” said Folwell.
asserted
Folwell → speak → Idaho
“That is why we wrote an Idaho policy to fix our specific Idaho problem, did it with Idahoans, and funded almost entirely with Idahoans.
asserted
we → write → Idahoans
We raised $3.5m over 6,000 contributions – almost entirely from inside our state.”
asserted
We → raise → state
Four states including Idaho have ballot initiatives that attempt to pin down exactly what kind of landscape they want.
asserted
they → include → landscape
The supreme court returned the issue to the states in 2022 when it overturned Roe v Wade, which previously provided a federal constitutional right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability.
asserted
which → return → viability
Idaho’s new law would return the state to the standard set by Roe – allowing lawmakers to regulate abortion after “viability”, or the point when a fetus can survive outside the womb, widely recognized as about 24 weeks’ gestation.
asserted
fetus → return → gestation
Presently, Idaho prohibits abortion at every stage of pregnancy with an exception only to save a woman’s life – not her health.
asserted
Idaho → prohibit → life
In practice, this means passing a miscarrying woman around like a “hot potato” or air-lifting women across state lines for emergency services doctors are too scared to provide in Idaho.
asserted
doctors → mean → Idaho
Democrats have had difficulty building urgency around abortion rights as important cases quietly move through the judicial system, leaving a long list of contentious issues – including high gas prices, a war with Iran, ICE raids, a challenging job market and even datacenters – to take top billing.
asserted
cases → have → billing
This could change in the spring.
uncertain
This → change → spring
Idaho’s battles also represent a fragile national status quo.
asserted
battles → represent → quo
Abortion access in ban states relies on women’s ability to access medication abortion by mail – the two-drug combination of mifepristone and misoprostol.
asserted
access → rely → mifepristone
Medication abortions account for 63% of all abortions in states without bans.
asserted
abortions → account → bans
People seeking an abortion can obtain the drugs via telehealth prescriptions, which can then be mailed to people even in states where abortion is banned.
asserted
abortion → seek → states
“Shield laws” protect prescribing doctors from extradition to states where they would otherwise face criminal penalties for providing abortion care.
asserted
they → protect → care
Republican state attorneys general have worked diligently to assault that system, with at least three suits alleging the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates medication, acted inappropriately when approving or expanding access to mifepristone.
asserted
which → work → mifepristone
The fastest-moving case is in Louisiana, where the state’s attorney general sued the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for allowing telehealth dispensing.
asserted
general → move → dispensing
“It would not surprise anyone if there are new national abortion limits in 2027, but the Trump administration understands that’s not a good idea politically,” said the historian and law professor at the University of California Davis Mary Ziegler.
asserted
historian → surprise → Davis
“They’ve been doing everything they can to delay those actions until after the midterms.”
asserted
they → do → midterms
The Trump administration has undertaken a “safety review” of mifepristone, despite dozens of studies which back up the drug’s safety.
asserted
which → undertake → safety
Conservative thinktanks have long attacked the drug, conflating routine doctors’ visits for bleeding – an intended, if unpleasant, effect of the drug – with adverse events.
asserted
thinktanks → attack → events
Changes in either the FDA’s assessment of safety or an unfavorable ruling from the fifth circuit appeals court, which covers Louisiana, could significantly restrict medication abortion.
uncertain
which → cover → abortion
In Texas, a well-known anti-abortion attorney has been bringing wrongful death cases in an effort to revive the Comstock Act, an 1873 indecency law that some conservative legal theorists believe could be used to ban abortion medication nationally.
uncertain
theorists → know → medication
Attorneys general in Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana have sued California, Massachusetts and New York in an effort to end “shield laws”, which allow doctors in the latter states to send abortion medication to those in the former.
asserted
doctors → sue → former
Idaho, Kansas and Missouri are suing the FDA for approving mifepristone in the first place.
asserted
Idaho → sue → place
“The Trump administration asked its own agencies and the courts to hit the pause button until after the midterms,” said Ziegler.
asserted
Ziegler → ask → midterms
“If you’re an average voter you just think, ‘There’s nothing to see.’”
asserted
you → ’re → ?
Ballot initiatives in other states point to the differential incentives placed on state politicians.
asserted
initiatives → point → politicians
A conservative-led ballot initiative in Missouri seeks to both restrict abortion rights and ban gender-affirming care for minors in the state’s constitution.
asserted
initiative → lead → constitution
The state was subject to a strict ban from 2022-2024, and was the first to enforce an abortion ban after Roe was overturned.
asserted
Roe → enforce → ban
It was also the first place where voters overturned the ban.
asserted
voters → overturn → ban
Abortion is now protected in the state’s constitution.
asserted
Abortion → protect → constitution
Locally, conservatives reportedly hope that the ban on abortion and gender-affirming care give Republicans a boost after a year of losses.
uncertain
ban → hope → losses
“We’ll see if that carries over to November, but certainly there’s a lot of momentum for them,” James Lawson, campaign manager for Missouri’s anti-abortion referendum, told the Kansas City Star.
asserted
Lawson → see → Star
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
