More than 300 Idaho physicians signed a letter of support for Proposition One that was released Thursday by Idahoans United for Women and Families, the grassroots organization behind the ballot initiative.

The full text of the letter in support of the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act can be viewed at unitedforyes.com/doctor-letter.

The letter was drafted in cooperation with physician partners at The Idaho Academy of Family Physicians in Boise and the c4 board of Idaho Coalition for Safe Healthcare, also based in Boise.

“As opposition groups spread harmful disinformation that maligns our patients and our standards of care for them, this letter represents a unified push back on their propaganda,” said Dr. Robbie Crouch, a family physician in Driggs.

Addressed to the voters of Idaho, the letter begins:

“As the physicians and caregivers who treat Idaho families, deliver their babies, and sit at their bedsides during the most difficult moments of their lives, we feel compelled to speak plainly about the debate over Proposition One, the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act. 

Deliberate, politically motivated efforts to misinform voters on this issue are wrong and dangerous. When medical facts are distorted, it puts everyone's health at risk and undermines the trusting relationship between a patient and their doctor. 

We want what is best and safest for Idaho women and families, and that is passing Proposition One. Our goal here is simple: to counter misleading rhetoric with clear medical and legal facts, so voters can make an informed choice based on reality, not fear.”

One of the signatories is Dr. Becky Uranga, who works as an OB-GYN and the chief medical officer at OGA Women's Health in the Treasure Valley area, including Meridian and Eagle. She describes herself as a pro-life, Catholic OB-GYN.

“I have watched insurance companies deny payment for miscarriage treatment, because in medical terms, that treatment is classified as an abortion,” Uranga wrote in a recent Idaho Statesman op-ed. “I have sent patients — mid-pregnancy, frightened, after receiving the devastating diagnosis that their fetus has a heartbeat but no brain — by plane to Salt Lake City, because under Idaho law, I could do nothing for them.”

Dr. Justin Bailey, a family physician and member of the LDS Church, also signed the letter in support of Prop 1. He works at Full Circle Health in Boise, where he is the director of the Procedures Institute and director of research and scholarship.

“Our Church’s Handbook has long allowed for an exception when the mother’s life or health is seriously threatened or when a pregnancy has no reasonable expectation of delivering a living child,” Bailey said. “Families, in conjunction with doctors, guided by their faith traditions, should be the decision-makers. Our current law removes those best able to make these decisions and places them second tier to political whims. Prop 1 would return the choice back to families.”

Melanie Folwell, Idahoans United executive director, said it’s clear from recent polling that the common-sense reproductive health guidelines enshrined in the ballot measure are supported by a plurality of Idahoans, a coalition that includes people of diverse faith backgrounds and partisanship. 

“Idahoans know that private medical decisions are best left to men and their families and their physicians, guided by their faith, not politicians” Folwell said. “Prop. 1 restores Idaho laws to what worked well for our families for nearly 50 years and mirrors the exceptions on the books for our neighbors in Utah.”