BOISE — Attendees flocked to the steps of the Idaho State Capitol building on yet another frosty Saturday. This march’s cause: bringing an end to legal abortion.

March for Life Idaho garnered an estimated 2,000 attendees according to Right to Life Idaho President Emily Naugle. Speakers stood at a podium with a baby-sized coffin propped against it.

The year’s march served as a stark contrast to the previous week’s Women’s March, which centered on the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, a proposed ballot initiative that seeks to end the abortion ban triggered by the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

Saturday at the Capitol, Naugle described Idaho’s abortion laws as “some of the most protective in our nation.”

Idaho currently only makes exceptions in some cases of incest, rape and when the abortion is “necessary to prevent death.” Women cannot abort in cases where the fetus is no longer viable, including cases where carrying out the pregnancy to term would be detrimental to their health.

Megan Wold, lawyer and anti-abortion activist, highlighted the importance of protecting the current ban.

“I am usually here each year to give a legislative update, and this year, we have no task more important than defending the legislation that Idaho already has,” Wold said.

Proponents of the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act are currently in the process of collecting signatures for a May 1 deadline. If the required signatures are acquired, the act will appear on the Nov. 3 Election Day ballot and need a simple majority to pass.

The ballot initiative would reverse the impact of Roe v. Wade’s overturning and establish the right to make private reproductive health care decisions up to fetal viability, which is defined by Idaho law as 24 weeks.

“I want to be clear, Idaho law protects pregnant women, including when they face medical emergencies,” Wold said. “In Idaho, doctors can and must exercise their good faith medical judgment to provide the care that pregnant women need all the time, and especially in an emergency. Doctors can treat ectopic pregnancies, they can provide miscarriage care, and they can always do what their good faith medical judgment instructs.”

Idaho law does provide exceptions for ectopic pregnancies and miscarriage care, but does not allow abortions in the case of fatal fetal diagnoses, as decided by a 2025 ruling reported by the Idaho Capital Sun.

Throughout the rally, speakers described the anti-abortion movement as a spiritual battle. Blaine Conzatti, president of the Idaho Family Policy Center, spoke after he was awarded the Pro Life Warrior Award. The center is a conservative Christian lobbying organization that has grown in prominence in recent years.

“We also need to be saddling up to fight this ballot initiative by educating ourselves, educating our friends, and preparing for the battle ahead of us,” Conzatti said. “How extreme is this ballot initiative? Here’s the bottom line, it’s too extreme for Idaho.”

Conzatti listed alleged impacts of the ballot initiative, claiming it would allow late-term abortions in the last three months of pregnancy, abortions for minors without parental consent — and most jarring — would allow abortions to be provided by unqualified practitioners including chiropractors, dentists and nurses.

These claims elicited gasps from the crowd. The act, however, will not allow for late-term abortions except in the case of medical emergencies, remaining consistent with current abortion exceptions, according to its text. Otherwise, abortions would only be allowed up to 24 weeks.

Medical treatment for minors without parental consent is specifically outlawed in Idaho except in emergencies as defined by Idaho Code.

As for who is allowed to provide an abortion, the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act’s definition of a “physician” directly pulls from Idaho Code, and makes no reference to any professions Conzatti listed.

In response to the code outline, the Conzatti maintained his points, telling the Idaho Press the following:

Conzatti said the initiative’s definition would allow for late term abortions, as it does not strictly abide by Idaho’s 24-week definition of fetal viability. The act instead allows for abortions up to fetal viability, defining it as when “the fetus has a significant likelihood of sustained survival outside of the uterus without extraordinary medical measures.” In cases where the fetus is not expected to survive, abortions could be allowed in the last trimester.

As for parental consent, Conzatti said the act would override existing Idaho Code.

Conzatti also noted that the act mainly uses the umbrella term “healthcare provider” rather than physician, leaving a possible allowance for unqualified practitioners. However, the act does state “Nothing in this act will be deemed to bar or otherwise apply to a claim of medical malpractice against a health care provider for failing to comply with the applicable community standard of health care practice.”

During his speech, attendees cheered on the closures of two of three Idaho Planned Parenthood locations, with just one remaining in Meridian. The crowd also celebrated the decreased rate of legal abortions.

“Just think of the thousands of precious babies who have been saved as a result of this law and the other pro-life laws that we have on the books,” he said.

As reported by Boise State Public Radio, Idaho recorded only three abortions in 2023, however there has been an observed increase in Idahoans seeking abortions from out of state or with abortion pills.

Keynote speaker Matt Britton serves as general counsel and board ex-officio for 40 Days for Life Institute for Law and Justice. Britton put it plainly, “abortion is never necessary.”

“Y’all are facing an existential crisis with this constitutional amendment,” Britton said, referring to the act.

Britton emphasized a misplaced priority of mothers over their unborn children with the belief that abortion isn’t health care. Whether the law aligns, Britton said abortions will stop once people stop seeking them out.

“When no woman wants an abortion, it won’t matter how bad our laws are,” he said. “... My Bible says that the law came into the world through Moses, but truth and grace came into the world through Jesus Christ. So we’re gonna fight these laws.”