The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare released their annual abortion report in September 2024, showing that, in 2023, abortions performed in the state declined significantly from the previous year.
Statistics and Changes in Idaho Abortions, 2022-2023
The report does not include information on Planned Parenthood’s Idaho abortion market share.
Abortion Totals and Trends
Idaho reported that only five abortions were performed in the state in 2023, a decrease of 99.5% from 2022. Drug-induced abortions decreased by 99.4% to four abortions in 2023, 80% of the state total (Fig. 1). The Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) estimates that Idaho’s abortion rate decreased by 99.5% to 0.013 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15-44 (Fig. 2).1 As of November 2024, 21 states had released 2023 abortion statistics, with 12 states showing that abortions had decreased.
Idaho used to separately report the numbers of abortions performed on state residents, whether they occurred in Idaho or in other states. In 2022 and 2023, however, the state only reported abortions that were performed in Idaho on either state residents or nonresidents. All five abortions that occurred in Idaho were performed on Idaho residents.
State Reporting Summary
In August 2022, Idaho’s life at conception law went into effect. It prohibits elective abortions but allows abortions to be performed if the mother’s life is endangered and/or in the cases of rape and incest in the first trimester. Presumably, the five abortions that occurred in the state in 2023 were performed under the exceptions of the law. However, the report did not detail the exceptions, if any, that were implicated in the performance of the five abortions.
Zero abortions were performed on girls under the age of 20. One abortion was performed on a woman aged 20 to 24, three were performed on women ages 25 to 29, and one was performed on a woman aged 30 to 34. Three of the abortions were obtained by white women and the race of the other two women was unknown. Two women were married and three were unmarried.
All five abortions performed in the state were on women who had not had a previous abortion, while four were performed on women with zero previous live births. One abortion was obtained by a woman who had one previous live birth. Four of the five abortions were performed at 16 to 20 weeks of gestation, while one abortion was performed at an unknown gestational age (though this abortion was also estimated to have been performed between 16-20 weeks). One abortion was performed via a dilation and evacuation procedure while four were performed using abortion drugs.
Four abortions were obtained in Ada County while one was obtained in Canyon County. As required by the law, women were provided with educational materials in advance of three of the abortions. One woman was not provided with the educational materials, but the law stipulates that educational materials might not be provided during medical emergencies. However, the report did not mention why the one woman was not provided with the materials. It was not known for one abortion if educational materials were received by the woman.
Complications Data
The state usually releases an annual complications report concurrently with its annual abortion report, but in 2023, according to email correspondence between CLI and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, there were zero abortion complications reported in 2023.
Legislative Changes
As mentioned above, Idaho’s life at conception law went into effect in August 2022. The law was challenged by the U.S. Department of Justice soon before it went into effect, resulting in subsequent litigation. However, as a result of a United States Supreme Court ruling in June 2024, Idaho’s law, can remain in effect while the case continues to be litigated in the 9th Circuit. To see the effect that Idaho’s law has had on the number of abortions per month, see the following table:
Table 1: Abortions by Month in Idaho, 2022-2023
| 2022 | 2023 | |
| January | 127 | 0 |
| February | 112 | 0 |
| March | 150 | 1 |
| April | 141 | 1 |
| May | 145 | 1 |
| June | 143 | 0 |
| July | 133 | 1 |
| August | 76 | 1 |
| September | 0 | 0 |
| October | 0 | 0 |
| November | 0 | 0 |
| December | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 1,027 | 5 |
State Ranking
In CLI’s 2024 reevaluation of abortion reporting requirements across the country, Idaho’s reporting was tied for 12th best. Idaho could improve its reporting by listing the reason why women are seeking abortions, as some other states do.
- National rates were calculated by the Guttmacher Institute. Idaho rates were calculated by CLI using the following formula: (total number of abortions performed in Idaho Ă· number of resident women ages 15-44 [based on most recent population estimates]) x 1,000. Rates may differ slightly from previous CLI articles due to revised population estimates. Population estimates were obtained from the CDC WONDER database. Estimates for 2005-2009 are intercensal estimates of the July 1 resident population. Estimates for 2010-2019 are Vintage 2020 postcensal estimates of the July 1 resident population. Estimates for 2020-2022 are Vintage 2022 postcensal estimates of the July 1 resident population. Estimates were produced by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics. Rates for 2023 were calculated using the Vintage 2022 postcensal estimates because 2023 population estimates have not yet been released by the CDC.
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