Idaho Certifies Ballot Measure That Could Overturn State Abortion Ban

Summary

Idaho's secretary of state certified a ballot initiative Monday that would give voters a direct say this November on one of the most sweeping abortion bans in the country. The state currently prohibits abortion at all stages of pregnancy, among the strictest such laws in the United States. The initiative was driven by a volunteer-run group called Idahoans United for Women and Families, which collected more than 100,000 signatures to get the measure on the fall ballot. If passed, it would enact a new state law establishing reproductive freedom protections and effectively reverse the existing ban. Idaho becomes the latest in a growing line of states where abortion rights have landed directly before voters since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, a pattern that has generally favored abortion access measures even in states with conservative legislatures. The November vote will test whether that national trend holds in a deeply red state where the legislature passed the ban in the first place.