BOISE — Idaho’s November election will provide voters the opportunity to determine whether to loosen abortion restrictions after a 2022 law outlawed abortion under almost all circumstances.

The announcement arrives after Idahoans United for Women and Families submitted signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office earlier this month with more than 150 supporters and volunteers from across the state in attendance. The over 110,000 signatures submitted this month represent the largest number of signatures gathered for a qualified initiative in the state’s history.

“It’s been so gratifying to watch Idaho people address a problem that’s not unique to Idaho, but we are addressing it in our own way,” Melanie Folwell, executive director of Idahoans United, said. “We’re funded almost entirely by Idahoans. I think we’ve put in the work to build a strong, statewide, cross-partisan, all-comers coalition of support, and that work will continue into the fall.”

The Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act allows for healthcare decisions, including abortion, to be made up to the point of fetal viability and in medical emergencies. The initiative defines fetal viability as the point in pregnancy when the fetus has a “significant likelihood of survival outside of the uterus without extraordinary measures.”

If the initiative were to pass with a simple majority, Idaho lawmakers would still be able to regulate abortion after the point of fetal viability except in cases of medical emergency.

Idaho’s current law, which went in place after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, makes abortion illegal outside of incidents of rape and incest, so long as a police report is provided and it is within the first trimester, and in cases where the mother’s life is in danger.

In order to qualify for the general election, ballot initiatives need to receive valid signatures from 6% of registered voters statewide as well as 6% of registered voters in at least 18 of Idaho’s 35 legislative districts. In addition to exceeding the requirement of 70,725 valid signatures, Idahoans United said 20 legislative districts ended up meeting this signature threshold.

With key procedural hurdles cleared, the group will be continuing outreach through voter mobilization.

“We’ve already knocked about 66,000 doors, I would note almost entirely outside Boise” Folwell said. “This is a campaign that is very focused on mobilizing, knocking, having conversations in a lot of places that haven’t been knocked in a very long time in Idaho politics.”

Previously released registration data for signees of the ballot initiative indicates cross-party support for the measure:

{ul}{li class=”p1”}Democrat — 37.5%, 26,765{/li}{li class=”p1”}Unaffiliated — 33.6%, 23,921{/li}{li class=”p1”}Republican — 28.1%, 20,031{/li}{li class=”p1”}Libertarian — 0.8% {/li}{/ul}

Folwell said she felt the broad appeal of the initiative surprised many, including the initiative’s volunteers, but prior polling, and the group’s own research, indicated a path forward. In January, Boise State University’s Idaho Policy Institute found 60% of respondents supported the initiative, including 92% of Democrats, 63% of Independents and 46% of Republicans, as was previously reported by the Idaho Press.

With the state 50th in nation in physicians per capita and an exodus of OB-GYNs in the years after Idaho’s trigger law into effect, the impact of Idaho’s abortion statute is increasingly being felt in people’s lives, healthcare realities Folwell said were reflected by the initiative’s ability to garner support.

“We may all have our own unique viewpoints on abortion access, but we have broad consensus around the idea that we don’t want the government calling the shots for our families,” Folwell said.