The stakes for abortion rights in the upcoming 2024 presidential election couldn’t be higher. According to reproductive rights experts, a victory by former President Donald Trump could lead to a nationwide crackdown on abortion access, potentially impacting even traditionally pro-choice blue states. The specter of a post-Roe America looms large as voters prepare to cast their ballots.
A Playbook for Restricting Abortion Nationwide
Idaho, home to perhaps the strictest abortion ban in the country, offers a chilling preview of what could lie ahead for the rest of the nation. “Everything that’s happening in Idaho is a playbook, I think, for what could happen in the rest of the country,” warned American University professor Jessica Waters, who studies reproductive rights. The state has become a laboratory for testing extreme anti-abortion measures.
Under a Trump administration, obscure laws like the Comstock Act of 1873, which prohibits mailing abortion-related materials, could be weaponized to effectively ban the procedure nationwide. This would jeopardize access to abortion pills, which now account for two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. Some activists argue the act could even be used to restrict abortion clinic supplies.
Project 2025, a controversial conservative policy playbook, lays out a roadmap for the next Republican administration to impose sweeping abortion restrictions without Congressional approval. The courts could also play a role, with conservative Supreme Court justices hinting at a broad interpretation of the Comstock Act in recent arguments.
Confusion Over Emergency Abortion Care
Enforcement of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires hospitals to stabilize patients facing medical emergencies, is another area of concern. Idaho has been at the forefront of challenging EMTALA’s application to emergency abortions, arguing that doctors can’t be compelled to provide care illegal under state law.
The Supreme Court sidestepped the issue in a recent ruling, leaving the door open for further erosion of emergency abortion protections. Without a Democratic president to defend EMTALA, Idaho’s narrow interpretation could become the norm nationwide, endangering pregnant people facing life-threatening complications.
It was a very real concern of mine that a situation would come up that somebody requires abortion care that I cannot provide, or that I am providing and at risk of being charged with a felony and going to prison.
Dr. Kylie Cooper, former Idaho obstetrician
Doctors Fleeing Abortion Ban States
Idaho’s abortion restrictions have already driven away 22% of the state’s obstetricians, according to a report by state physician groups. More than half of Idaho’s maternal fetal medicine specialists have left or stopped practicing full-time. Doctors say they can no longer risk felony charges for providing necessary care.
“These are not normal conversations. These are not conversations that I ever anticipated having in my medical career, in my life,” said Dr. Kylie Cooper, who ultimately left Idaho to practice in Minnesota due to the ban. Nationwide abortion limits could accelerate this provider exodus, compromising access to reproductive healthcare.
Miscarriage Care Compromised
Even miscarriage treatment has become fraught in states with strict abortion bans. Some doctors are refusing to perform routine procedures for miscarrying patients out of fear of prosecution. This reluctance has already endangered lives in Texas, where women have been denied abortion care for conditions like premature rupture of membranes.
It’s scary and it’s disappointing, knowing that if something went wrong in the process of trying to save the baby, that there wasn’t anything else they could do. I would have to be sent to another state to have my daughter and lose her.
Rebekka Schaffner, Idaho mother
With abortion rights hanging in the balance, voters face a stark choice in 2024. Will the nation embrace Idaho’s draconian abortion policies, or will blue state bastions hold the line? For those seeking to protect reproductive autonomy, the prospect of a second Trump term is a dystopian nightmare that must be prevented at all costs. The future of abortion access could well be decided at the ballot box.
Under a Trump administration, obscure laws like the Comstock Act of 1873, which prohibits mailing abortion-related materials, could be weaponized to effectively ban the procedure nationwide. This would jeopardize access to abortion pills, which now account for two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. Some activists argue the act could even be used to restrict abortion clinic supplies.
Project 2025, a controversial conservative policy playbook, lays out a roadmap for the next Republican administration to impose sweeping abortion restrictions without Congressional approval. The courts could also play a role, with conservative Supreme Court justices hinting at a broad interpretation of the Comstock Act in recent arguments.
Confusion Over Emergency Abortion Care
Enforcement of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires hospitals to stabilize patients facing medical emergencies, is another area of concern. Idaho has been at the forefront of challenging EMTALA’s application to emergency abortions, arguing that doctors can’t be compelled to provide care illegal under state law.
The Supreme Court sidestepped the issue in a recent ruling, leaving the door open for further erosion of emergency abortion protections. Without a Democratic president to defend EMTALA, Idaho’s narrow interpretation could become the norm nationwide, endangering pregnant people facing life-threatening complications.
It was a very real concern of mine that a situation would come up that somebody requires abortion care that I cannot provide, or that I am providing and at risk of being charged with a felony and going to prison.
Dr. Kylie Cooper, former Idaho obstetrician
Doctors Fleeing Abortion Ban States
Idaho’s abortion restrictions have already driven away 22% of the state’s obstetricians, according to a report by state physician groups. More than half of Idaho’s maternal fetal medicine specialists have left or stopped practicing full-time. Doctors say they can no longer risk felony charges for providing necessary care.
“These are not normal conversations. These are not conversations that I ever anticipated having in my medical career, in my life,” said Dr. Kylie Cooper, who ultimately left Idaho to practice in Minnesota due to the ban. Nationwide abortion limits could accelerate this provider exodus, compromising access to reproductive healthcare.
Miscarriage Care Compromised
Even miscarriage treatment has become fraught in states with strict abortion bans. Some doctors are refusing to perform routine procedures for miscarrying patients out of fear of prosecution. This reluctance has already endangered lives in Texas, where women have been denied abortion care for conditions like premature rupture of membranes.
It’s scary and it’s disappointing, knowing that if something went wrong in the process of trying to save the baby, that there wasn’t anything else they could do. I would have to be sent to another state to have my daughter and lose her.
Rebekka Schaffner, Idaho mother
With abortion rights hanging in the balance, voters face a stark choice in 2024. Will the nation embrace Idaho’s draconian abortion policies, or will blue state bastions hold the line? For those seeking to protect reproductive autonomy, the prospect of a second Trump term is a dystopian nightmare that must be prevented at all costs. The future of abortion access could well be decided at the ballot box.
