IDAHO STATE CAPITOL — Leaked documents on Monday indicate that a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court is potentially poised to strike down Roe v. Wade, stripping millions of their constitutionally protected right to abortion access.
House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel stated this morning, “The right to make personal medical decisions about our reproductive health care has stood in well-established law for 50 years. For nearly three generations, the law of the land has protected the right to privacy between a patient and their physician, keeping politicians out of the exam room. To dismantle this constitutional right to bodily autonomy goes against what the vast, vast majority of Americans want and expect.”
In fact, support for upholding Roe v. Wade is broad, even in majority Republican states like Idaho. A 2019 poll found that a bipartisan majority of Idahoans did not support overturning Roe v. Wade, 65% believing it is important that women in Idaho have access to all of the reproductive health care options available, including abortion. Nationally, that number rises to 80%.
Senator Melissa Wintrow said late Monday night, “This will have especially dangerous consequences for the women and girls living in states like Idaho, where the only thing standing between them and forced pregnancy and birth is the constitutional protection of Roe v. Wade. I am thinking about the testimony I’ve borne witness to, the testimony from rape survivors, from survivors of incest, who will have no protections in our state should Roe be overturned.
“There are hundreds–likely thousands–of reasons an individual seeks out this safe, legal, medical procedure, but one thread unites them all: her choice. Dismantling national protection for this most essential component of bodily autonomy is breathtaking in both its senselessness and its cruelty. Americans know that. Idahoans know that.”
We respect and understand that individuals may have personally held religious beliefs. But those religious beliefs may not be imposed on their fellow citizens. Idaho Democrats will zealously fight for fundamental constitutional rights and protections from governmental overreach such as this.
Added Representative James Ruchti, “The government has no business interfering in a personal medical decision between a woman and her doctor. No business. That’s not how we do things in Idaho.”
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For more information and interview requests, contact: Senator Melissa Wintrow, 208-949-0279, mwintrow@senate.idaho.gov