Idaho Banned Abortion. Then It Turned Down Supports for Pregnancies and Births.
https://www.propublica.org/article/idaho-banned-abortion-support-pregnancies-familiesIdaho Banned Abortion. Then It Turned Down Supports for Pregnancies and Births.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, the state’s GOP-led Legislature has disbanded a maternal mortality committee, failed to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage and turned down federal grants for child care.
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But since the June 2022 decision, Idaho has failed to deliver — even as other conservative states with abortion bans took steps to enhance their safety nets for families during pregnancy and after birth.
Idaho legislators disbanded a state committee that investigated the root causes of maternal deaths, making it the only state in the nation with no such mortality review.
They allowed two bills to die that would have put Idaho on the same track as nearly every other state with abortion restrictions — including Florida, Kentucky and Texas — by extending postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months. Idaho’s Medicaid coverage ends two months after birth, the minimum under federal law.
They turned down $36 million in federal grants to support child care this summer, while other states with new abortion restrictions — Alabama, Louisiana and Missouri among them — made investments in early childhood education and day care. Idaho lawmakers at the time attributed the decision to a pending audit of a different batch of grants.
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But Blaine Conzatti, president of the Idaho Family Policy Center and a leading anti-abortion lobbyist, is not bothered by the lack of government support. Pregnancies, births and child care are not the purview of the government, he said, but of families, communities, charities and, most of all, churches.
“The Bible is clear, and the history of Christendom broadly is clear, that it’s the church’s responsibility to meet the needs of the poor and to ensure that people have the services that they need to live flourishing lives,” Conzatti said.
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The (so-called) Pro-Life 
movement’s interest in infants begins at conception and ends at birth. Anyone thinking otherwise should look at their actions. These people’s jihad against Planned Parenthood and other family planning services have been remarkably successful—at closing down clinics and denying pregnant women access to birth control and obstetrical care.
These people claim to provide abortion alternatives. Do they fund obstetric care? No. Do they provide access for post-born babies? No. Do they provide adequate financial assistance to struggling mothers with infants? No.
Idaho looks like it’s on the way to becoming a desert for women seeking maternity care, and it’s largely the fault of social reactionaries and the anti-abortion movement.
I wish I had more sympathy for the low-info mothers and fathers who vote for these social reactionary politicians, but I don’t.
They got their cake and are eating it, too. Hypocrites. 
