Copyright Coeur d'Alene Press
COEUR d’ALENE — Around 100 people attended the Kootenai County Women's March — End the Ban event Saturday at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library Community Room. Attendee Ciara Platt said she was most concerned about the scaling back of women's health care — especially with her 6-year-old daughter, Marley, in mind. "I believe it's important for my daughter to learn about body autonomy, and to have her around women that teach her to respect her body," Platt said. Marley carried a handmade sign reading "I love you, you are the best, I am so happy to be here!" and had decorated it with stick-figure drawings of women. Laura Tenneson had similar concerns. "We need to stop having women flee to other states just to obtain health care," she said. The gathering included testimony from guest speakers and reproductive rights agencies on hand to answer questions and provide resources. Volunteers in North Idaho and across the state will collect signatures on Election Day for a reproductive rights ballot initiative that aims to restore abortion access in Idaho. Idahoans United for Women and Families will host drive-through signature gathering events from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., giving Idahoans the opportunity to sign the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act petition. The act would establish a right to make “private reproductive health care decisions” in Idaho, including the right to make decisions about contraception and fertility treatments, pregnancy and childbirth, miscarriage care and abortion before fetal viability. It would also preserve the right to abortion after viability in medical emergencies, with emergencies to be determined on a case-by-case basis through “a physician’s good faith medical judgement.” The effort to collect signatures for the proposed ballot initiative began in July, nearly three years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The reversal allowed states to regulate abortion, activating trigger bans on abortion in several states, including Idaho. The ballot initiative process allows voters to propose their own policies that carry the power of law, if approved by a majority vote. To qualify for the ballot in fall 2026, the measure must collect more than 70,000 signatures by spring. In Coeur d’Alene, residents can sign the petition in the parking lot of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 501 E. Wallace Ave.
