In the past month, two hospitals in Idaho have announced they will soon stop providing labor and delivery services.
The closures for both hospitals cite difficulties leading to the decision, including a declining birth rate in the state of Idaho and in their respective regions.
Bonner General Health in Northern Idaho announced it will close its labor and delivery services on May 19, specifically mentioning Idaho law. This closure will primarily affect Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry.
“The Idaho Legislature continues to introduce and pass bills that criminalize physicians for medical
care nationally recognized as the standard of care. Consequences for Idaho Physicians providing
the standard of care may include civil litigation and criminal prosecution, leading to jail time or
fines,” Bonner’s press release read.
BGH cited that its hospitals only delivered 265 babies in 2022, a decrease relative to the past few years.
The hospital will also stop accepting new patients for prenatal care and has made a referral list of other hospitals.
“We have made every effort to avoid eliminating these services,” Ford Elsaesser, Bonner General Health’s Board President, stated. “We hoped to be the exception, but our challenges are impossible to overcome now.”
The decision came during the midst of Idaho’s Legislative Session, where bills further restricting abortion access have since passed. Most recently, House Bill 242 was signed off by Gov. Brad Little. The bill criminalizes those who help minors access abortions across state boundaries without parental permission, as well as doctors who provide them.
Erin Binnall, public information officer for BGH, said that the hospital will still offer gynecological services, including surgical services, preventative and wellness exams and family planning consultation.
“(The hospital) is working with each obstetrics patient one-on-one to assist in coordinating and transitioning their obstetrical care,” Binnall said. “In addition, we are working closely with Kootenai Health and other entities of the patient’s choice to ensure a smooth transition.”
BGH plans to refer patients wishing to continue receiving obstetric services to Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene. This may be problematic due to the hospital’s distance from individuals living in nearby towns.
“Coeur d’Alene is 44.5 miles south of Sandpoint and 76 miles from Bonners Ferry,” Binnall said. “Kootenai, in the future, plans to provide prenatal and postnatal services somewhere in Sandpoint.”
Valor Health in Emmett, Idaho announced it will also close labor and delivery services on June 1.
Valor cited similar reasons to BGH, noting a decrease in 50 deliveries from the year before.
Both hospitals also said that staffing was the main issue in providing obstetric care.
BGH is the only hospital that has cited Idaho’s legal climate creating an issue of maintaining highly trained physicians in the state.
Last August, following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Idaho’s trigger law took effect and criminalized the provision of abortion care. The only exceptions to the law include cases of reported incest or rape or care necessary to save the life of the mother.
Sarah Dixit, public affairs manager for Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and Northern Idaho, said that the closure of BGH is heartbreaking.
“We know that patients are being asked to travel pretty far outside of their community, and we don’t believe that patients should have to do that,” Dixit said. “They should be able to access the care that they need in the community that they live in.”
Dixit said that making patients travel further to access services like reproductive health care forces members of the community out.
These types of legislation also affect the quality of care people will receive due to a multitude of factors.
“We know that when there are restrictive bans and stipulations on the health care people can receive that people’s health are not being elevated,” Dixit said. “Patients having to travel super far or just opt out of care and hope that they can manage the situation from home is likely what we’ll see.”
The consequences of this legislation will continue to grow beyond just the issue of transportation.
“We know that there’s a lot more wrapped up whenever a state pushes for abortion bans, or gender-affirming care bans, and it has a larger impact on just healthcare in general,” Dixit said. “We know it will have an impact on maternal health rates. We know that it has disproportionate impact on patients based on whether they live in an urban or rural area, whether they are a person of color, have preexisting conditions, based on their income or access to transportation.”
Dixit also talked about fear of the consequences that providers face when having to balance restrictions placed by the legislature.
“We’ve seen with states like Texas, people could be experiencing a miscarriage and the providers have to consult with lawyers before being able to intervene and help a patient out,” Dixit said. “I imagine that in Idaho, we’ll see something similar where hospitals and providers will have to figure out how do we provide this care for patients in need, while also balancing politics and the lawyers being involved.”
Daniel V. Ramirez can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @DVR_Tweets
Gertrude
Pro-lifers are perfectly content with live fetuses and dead mothers. An Idaho state legislator actually said that the life of a pregnant woman did not matter as much as the life of an unborn fetus. So in essence, they don't just want to treat that precious little clump of undifferentiated cells as a person. They want to treat the pregnant woman as a non-person, to serve solely as an incubator for the state from conception until delivery. Idaho will soon be, if not already, a deeply uneducated and backward state. Soon, it will lead the nation in women's mortality and gun deaths. Up next on their agenda? Mandatory praying 5 times a day facing the church cathedral.
Mother M
I am amazed and appalled by the women who comment here, preaching from their own narrow self-serving perspective with no regard for the lives of others unless it conforms to their belief, a belief that does not correspond to reality or resemble the compassion of Christ who they feign to represent.
Mary Bell
I thank God for this,we want doctors that want to see a baby come out alive.I am happy to see less births, hopefully people are seeing why most abortions happen anyway.Sex before marriage.I have never understood how a doctor can abort a baby in his clinic,then run to the hospital to deliver a full term baby,with a smile on his face.
Mother M
Connie Abbott, your comment is ignorant and shows you have no respect for life in any form.
Connie Abbott
It must be that the obstetricians were also abortionists, got disgusted and moved to a pro-abortion state. I wouldn't want one of those as my doctor; I would want a doctor who values the life of the unborn! We need more of that kind of doctor to move into Idaho!