I caught this story from a DemCast friend on Twitter…
https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/20/idaho-bonner-hospital-baby-delivery-abortion-ban
An Idaho hospital has planned to stop delivering babies, with the medical center’s managers citing increasing criminalization of physicians and the inability to retain pediatricians as major reasons.
Bonner General Health, the only hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho, announced on Friday that it would no longer provide labor, delivery and a host of other obstetrical services.
The more than 9,000 residents of Sandpoint are now forced to drive 46 miles for the nearest labor and delivery care, the Idaho Statesman reported.
In a statement, the hospital’s leadership said that the decision to eliminate the obstetrics unit stemmed from the “political climate” in Idaho.
The hospital board President, Ford Elsaesser, said, “We have made every effort to avoid eliminating these services”.
The far-right Idaho Republicans are the direct cause of this situation.
Post the Dobbs decision, Idaho was the first state to pass a law like that in Texas (the source of Dobbs) with a SIX WEEK abortion ban.
So in their aggressive attack on abortion, the politicians in Idaho have left all of the pregnant women in Sandpoint without anywhere to deliver their babies.