The headline on a front-page story in Saturday’s Daily News was easy to understand: “Idaho losing obstetric specialists.” The sub-headline was equally simple: “Doctors, confused about how to practice medicine in the state, pleaded with state legislators for a solution.”
Without even reading the story by Kyle Pfannenstiel of the Idaho Capital Sun, one could see that a major issue — which remains unresolved — is forcing some Idaho OB-GYN doctors to pack up and leave. The issue is a dangerous lack of clarity in the state’s new abortion law.
That lack of clarity is generating crystal clear consequences as hospitals in Sandpoint, Emmet and Caldwell recently closed their labor and delivery units, according to Brian Whitlock, CEO of the Idaho Hospital Association. As a result, “obstetric deserts” are beginning to form, he said.
That should set alarm bells ringing for anyone who cares about reproductive health in Idaho, but the Republican-led state legislature doesn’t seem bothered about it. In fact, the chairperson of the House committee overseeing this issue dismisses physicians’ concerns as political gamesmanship.
“I think that there’s still a push to try to undo Idaho’s abortion statues,” Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, chairperson of the State Affairs Committee, told the Idaho Capital Sun. “And they’re using doctors, OB docs, as a pawn in this political game. And I’m tired of it.”
Note that he takes no responsibility, nor shows a flicker of recognition for who created this problem. Though Crane is tired of it, the chaos wrought by Idaho’s inflexible new abortion law isn’t settling down.
At first glance, the law seems pretty straightforward: Abortion is illegal, and the only exceptions are: 1) Rape and/or incest during the first trimester (police report required); and 2) To save the life of the mother. There is no exception to safeguard a pregnant woman’s health; in other words, she must be at death’s door before she can legally receive an abortion.
By that point, she may have suffered irreversible harm including loss of fertility. “Sorry about that ectopic pregnancy, lady. No more kids for you.”
Idaho’s new abortion law puts physicians in a tough spot because they cannot intervene — under threat of criminal prosecution — when their patients suffer easily correctable problems; the minimum prison sentence is two years. In addition to criminal prosecution, Idaho’s civil code allows family members of a pregnant woman to sue if she receives an abortion. “Can you spell P-A-Y-D-A-Y?”
Not to worry, Crane says, because no doctor has been prosecuted under Idaho’s abortion law. OK, but that’s a pretty flimsy foundation on which to build a medical career.
“Being told that no physician in our state has been prosecuted — yet — or that a case of medical necessity is unlikely to be prosecuted, is not adequately reassuring,” Dr. Sara Thomson, a Boise OB-GYN said during a media event at the Capitol last week.
Despite the cold comfort offered by Crane — no prosecutions, so far — Idaho’s OB-GYN doctors are voting with their feet. Who can blame them? Would you stick around when faced with the prospect of criminal prosecution and/or civil litigation for simply doing your job? Though Crane dismisses them as pawns, physicians are highly educated, highly paid, and highly mobile; most of them can go wherever they want.
“Idaho is digging itself into a workforce hole that will take many years, if not decades, to fill,” warned Susie Pouliot Keller, CEO of the Idaho Medical Association, at last week’s Capitol event. Since its abortion law took effect, Idaho has lost 22% of its practicing obstetricians, according to the Idaho Physician Well-Being Action Collaborative.
Not only are established OB-GYN doctors departing, prospective newcomers are increasingly wary. As a result, Idaho hospitals are seeing one-third to one-half as many applicants for OB-GYN vacancies, Whitlock said.
Though medical professionals are pleading for more clarity on exemptions, the Idaho Legislature is content to sit and wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in. Earlier this year, the high court agreed to hear a challenge to Idaho’s abortion law brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.
No telling when that case will be decided, but that’s OK with the Idaho Legislature because most of its members are men, and they’re in no hurry. Meanwhile, Idaho’s pregnant women must be prepared to flee to another state if they need modern obstetrical care.
So come all ye faithful, and bear witness as Idaho lurches back into the reproductive Stone Age.
Brock has been a Daily News columnist for more than 20 years. He has lived on the Palouse even longer.
