Activists seeking to override Idaho’s Defense of Life Act by ballot initiative this November claim doctors fled the state after the initiative was enacted, and that repeal will bring much-needed practitioners back to the sparsely settled state. The study they cite does not prove their claim of flight — and a pro-abortion law will not increase the number of doctors in the state.
This is a novel strategy by abortion advocates, who normally focus on choice and the autonomy of women. By claiming that Idaho’s pro-life law caused doctors to flee the state and that repeal would reverse that trend, they are opening a new argument, seeking to broaden their coalition by appealing to rural residents who are often underserved. The trouble is: It is utter fiction.
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