Idaho has long waged a war on women, and it isn’t just banning access to abortions | Opinion
Idaho is at war against women and has been for decades. The war is undeclared but undeniable when viewed through the lenses of justice and healthcare.
Idaho imprisons women at thee times the national rate. Idaho puts more women in prison than any other state, and the rate is accelerating. From 2022 to 2023, Idaho men’s incarceration rate increased by 2% and women’s by 9.3%.
Worse, 80% of women imprisoned in Idaho are there for nonviolent crimes. In Idaho, nonviolent offenders stay imprisoned twice as long as anywhere else.
There is collateral damage to children, and 81% of incarcerated women in Idaho have dependent children. Only 28% of those children live with their fathers. The rest live with a relative or friend or enter foster care. One in 10 children of incarcerated parents end up incarcerated themselves.
This cycle worsens as more mothers are imprisoned for nonviolent offenses, mostly drug related crimes. Idaho has America’s highest arrest rate for marijuana possession, a drug no longer criminalized in most states.
No hope is in sight. Idaho DOC pays $77 a day per inmate and $84 a day to house some prisoners in other states. Instead of looking into why so many nonviolent women are imprisoned in Idaho, the State Legislature is building a new $112 million prison for women to save that $7 difference.
Idaho spends 7.8% of its $5 billion budget on imprisonment. For a state that prides itself on freedom and low taxes, Idaho fails on both.
But Idaho’s war on women is not limited to imprisoning nonviolent women. Idaho is also at war against mothers and babies.
Idaho’s infant mortality rate increased 18% from 2019 to 202. Idaho is in the worst 10% of states for maternal mortality, which almost tripled from 2019 to 2021. It is well known that infant mortality is 16% higher and maternal mortality is 62% higher in states with restricted abortion access. Despite worsening death rates and already restrictive laws, Idaho legislature doubled down by banning abortion with criminal consequences for doctors.
Since Idaho’s 2022 abortion ban, 22% of OB/Gyn doctors have left practice in Idaho. A recent survey indicates that another 12% will leave this year and 38% more may leave soon. Additionally, 59% of Idaho family practitioners are leaving or considering leaving Idaho.
As of 2023, half of Idaho counties have zero obstetricians. Three Idaho hospitals closed their labor and delivery wards in the last year: Bonner General in Sandpoint, Valor Health in Emmett and now West Valley Medical Center in Caldwell. West Valley is also closing its neonatal ICU.
Even if women find someone to help deliver their babies, 80% of maternal deaths occur in the year following birth. Forty-six states have accordingly increased Medicaid coverage for a full year after birth. And 80% of maternal deaths are preventable with access to adequate healthcare. But Idaho’s pregnancy coverage ends 60 days after birth and Idaho’s Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women is the worst in the nation.
With the lack of doctors, hospitals and health insurance, things look dark for pregnant women in Idaho. But rather than try to address these problems, in 2023 the Idaho legislature voted to dissolve the Maternal Mortality Review Committee. Idaho is the only state in America without a Maternal Mortality Review Committee.
This war on Idaho’s women must stop. If your representative will not commit definitively to improving access to women’s healthcare, removing the abortion ban and reforming the criminal justice system in Idaho, then he or she does not deserve your vote. Your vote is your voice.
Go to voteidaho.gov to get started.
Dr. Roller has decades of clinical and public health experience at a large surgical practice. She earned her Doctor of Medicine degree at Georgetown University, Master of Public Health at the University of Washington and Bachelor degree in Astrophysics at the University of California, Berkeley.
