‘Women are not free’: Idaho protesters rally in Boise with ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ costumes

At the corner of Myrtle Street and Capitol Boulevard in downtown Boise, six women in red costumes stood quietly behind a cart covered in a black cloth. A wreath and a sign stating “Death of women’s rights” set the stage for a funeral.

The women’s costumes alluded to Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale,” in which women were coerced into reproductive slavery. The demonstrators Monday morning stood alongside a dozen other women who wore black clothes and held up signs – one read, “Women’s lives matter.” Members of the Southwest Idaho Chapter of the National Organization for Women were in mourning over Idaho’s abortion ban and the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, which provided federal protections for the procedure.

About 30 people, mostly women, participated in the protest and held signs that advocated for women’s health and safe abortions as a human right. The group received significant support from people driving and walking by, who repeatedly honked and thanked the protesters. One driver screamed, “Abortion matters,” as he drove past the traffic light.

Cindy Thorngren, president of the organization, said that NOW showed up to make women in Boise feel like they’re not alone.

“Idaho preaches a lot of freedom, but women are not free,” Thorngren told the Idaho Statesman.

Today, Idaho has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. The state’s “trigger law” that became effective in August 2022 turned performing an abortion into a crime, with few exceptions. The law prompted many doctors to leave Idaho for fear the ban, which has no exception for emergency medical situations unless the patient’s life is at risk, would force them to either compromise their pregnant patients’ safety or risk loss of their medical license or prison. Some women have had to transfer to hospitals in other states, such as Oregon, to receive medical care.

“In Idaho, a woman must literally be at death’s door before she can get a legal abortion to save her life if she has a medical emergency during pregnancy,’” NOW said in a press release. “The SW Idaho Chapter of the National Organization for Women deplores the Legislature’s lack of knowledge concerning women’s reproduction and lack of concern for women’s lives and health.”

The U.S. Supreme Court is deliberating on whether to allow emergency abortions after the Department of Justice sued Idaho in August 2022 over its ban, arguing that it conflicts with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act by prohibiting abortions that are necessary to preserve a pregnant patient’s health. The 1986 federal law makes it mandatory for any hospital with an emergency room that gets Medicare funds to offer stabilizing treatment to anyone with an emergency medical condition that comes to the hospital.

Justices heard oral arguments for the lawsuit in April, and the decision is expected to come soon.

Idaho Republican Attorney General Raúl Labrador said that Idaho’s law “harmonizes seamlessly with federal law in working to preserve every woman’s life” in a guest op-ed, and that “the federal government has been wrong from day one” when the Supreme Court temporarily allowed the state to carry out its ban in January, the Statesman previously reported. Labrador, whose office defended the state’s law against the Justice Department, called this move “a big step in stopping the administration’s lawless overreach.”

Thorngren said the organization would like the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision to be overturned, but they know that won’t happen in the next year. They’ll probably have to protest this for many years to come, Thorngren told the Statesman.

“In Idaho, it’s so tough to make a difference,” Thorngren said.