If you value life, vote Yes on Prop 1

Dear Editor:

 When you see those signs that say Idaho Values Life, what comes to mind?

For me, the question is, whose lives do we value?

 We must not value the lives of pregnant Idahoans, because Idaho’s extreme anti-abortion laws prevent women from receiving the healthcare they need in medical emergencies. 

 Would you want your loved one to be airlifted out of state for emergency care that could have been provided close to home? That’s happening to Idaho families under our state’s near-total ban on abortion. Passing Proposition 1 would show that Idahoans truly value the lives of women of childbearing age.

 The signs that make even less sense are the ones that urge you to “Save the Babies.” How can we save the babies by sacrificing the mothers? Proposition 1 protects a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions. In certain cases, that means making the heartrending choice to end a dangerous pregnancy in order to preserve the mother’s health and her ability to give birth to healthy babies in the future.

 Idaho ranks dead last in the U.S. in number of doctors per capita. Yet we push doctors away by criminalizing the care pregnant women need. Prop 1 would allow doctors to deliver lifesaving care without losing their license or their freedom.

 Compare Idaho’s extreme anti-abortion laws and Proposition 1 to the conservative values of personal liberty and minimal government intrusion in our lives. On one hand, you have anti-abortion laws that take away personal sovereignty and insert the government into a woman’s most difficult and life-altering decisions. On the other hand, Proposition 1, the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, would get government out of women’s healthcare choices and protect their right to life and liberty. The choice is obvious: The conservative vote is Yes on Prop 1.

Wendy Green

Indian Valley, Idaho