As Republicans downplay abortion for midterms, four US states to vote / Photo: © AFP/File
As Republicans downplay abortion for midterms, four US states to vote
The issue of abortion rights has made fewer national headlines during this US midterm election cycle, with Democrats focusing on affordability and President Donald Trump's historic unpopularity, and Republicans shelving it for now.
But Americans in four states will weigh in on the subject on November 3, as restrictions continue to fuel legal confusion and result in subpar medical care for millions of patients who can face dangerous or deadly consequences.
"We're so deep red that it's easy to set us aside and not think about us as a part of the larger political landscape," said pro-choice advocate Jen Jackson Quintano of Idaho.
But abortion is "a huge part of the conversation" in the US northwestern state ahead of the midterms, she told AFP.
Idahoans -- who now live under a near total-ban on abortion -- are considering a measure that would restore the right to end a pregnancy until fetal viability.
Voters in Nevada and Virginia will also cast ballots on rights protections, while Missouri could undo the results of a 2024 referendum that added abortion rights to the state constitution.
The US Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling that enshrined the constitutional right to abortion for half a century, and legality now varies significantly across states.
Obtaining an abortion in states where it is banned largely relies on medication by mail from states where it is legal.
That tenuous access is under threat, including in Republican-led states where lawmakers and leaders are attempting to use the courts to block it.
Yet the White House has firmly placed such questions on the back burner.
"The Trump administration has been deliberately pushing anything that could impact abortion access until after the midterm," said Mary Ziegler, a California legal scholar.
"Republicans obviously have no interest in making the abortion issue salient, because it hurts them" at the polls, Ziegler told AFP.
About 60 percent of US adults say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to recent Pew Research data.
- Not 'red or blue' -
In Idaho, abortion is banned at every stage of pregnancy with a rare exception to prevent a mother's death -- though not to save her health.
Melanie Folwell leads Idahoans United for Women and Families, the group behind the citizen-led ballot initiative.
She told AFP that 30 percent of the people who signed in support of adding the proposal to the ballot were registered Republicans.
That's because abortion isn't a "red or blue" issue, Folwell said.
"It is actually a lot more nuanced," she said, "because it is so personal."
Idaho doctors told AFP they felt "gagged" by the laws, unable to provide options counseling. Sometimes women have been airlifted across state lines for emergency care.
"It's just risky to continue a pregnancy here," said physician Becky Uranga.
"If we get in trouble, it's not like we get sued. We go to jail."
Prop One faces well-funded opposition from religious and conservative groups, formidable opponents for some 2,000 volunteers knocking on doors to rally votes for the measure.
A group of several hundred doctors have issued a letter urging voters to pass it.
"We just want to keep people healthy and happy and safe," family physician Loren Colson told AFP. "By severely limiting our ability to do so, we're just providing suboptimal care."
"Criminalizing abortion care is just making everything more harmful," he said. "It's not protecting fetuses."
- Exodus of doctors -
Since the fall of Roe, obstetricians and gynecologists have left Idaho in droves, causing labor and delivery wards to close across the primarily rural state. Wait times for routine care now can be many months.
A study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association last year showed that more than a third of Idaho's doctors specializing in pregnancy and women's health have stopped practicing, left the state or retired since the abortion ban's onset.
It has proven extraordinarily difficult to recruit new hires.
Uranga, whose family has deep roots in Idaho, has stayed but admits she is tired.
"I've had some pretty low moments where my friends have literally had to pick me up and keep me moving forward," she said.
Uranga describes herself as "pro-life" and Catholic, but said Idaho's ban is extreme.
Witnessing women facing miscarriage and serious pregnancy complications, while being legally barred from providing care, has informed her decision to unabashedly support Prop One.
"I don't feel strongly about this despite my Catholic faith, but because of my Catholic faith," she said.
"By being pro-life, you should be pro-choice."
K.Harris--VC
