IDAHO — We're learning more about the Idaho Supreme Court's decision regarding the language used for the abortion rights initiative on the general election ballot.
We first told you on August. 27 that a lawsuit was filed by Idahoans United for Women and Families on Proposition One, which asked to clarify the statements behind the "yes" and "no" votes.
The original statements included the following language:
YES: A YES vote would create reproductive rights, including a right to abortion before a fetus’s ability to survive and after a fetus’s ability to survive in cases of a medical emergency, and provide liability protections for healthcare providers.
NO: A NO vote would make no change to Idaho’s current law, which protects the life of the unborn while allowing abortion in reported cases of rape or incest, or when necessary to protect the life of the mother.
The lawsuit asked for the following changes to be made to the statements:
A YES vote means Proposition One will become state law.
A NO vote means state law regarding abortion will remain unchanged.
Now, a ruling has come in.
The Idaho Supreme Court decided that the original statements on the ballot did not comply with the state's law on including clear and concise explanations of what each vote entailed.
As a result, the new statements were ordered to replace the current ones by Sept. 5, 2026. The original statements were also prohibited from being used on the general election ballot.
