Why Idaho?

Why Idaho? I grew up here. I left for college, moved around for training and did my residency in California. I loved California and felt very at home there, but Idaho was also home too. My family is here. So I came back.

It was a bit of a culture shock coming back here. The laws are different, but also the culture. Comprehensive care exists, but can’t be practiced. Demographics here are very different from where I trained. Some practitioners made assumptions about patients that didn’t sit well with me.

I began my first job conflicted: Am I going? Am I staying? This was before Dobbs. But due to some factors, including meeting my spouse, I decided to stay. And then Roe was overturned. So we’re here, and our families are here and on one hand, I feel more rooted in Idaho than ever.

But I think about leaving Idaho every day.

I was about to sign on a job offer in another state, but ultimately decided it wasn’t right for me and thought I would see how things played out here. The reality is that Idaho has had a de facto abortion ban for a long time. Even before Dobbs, there were many clinics that didn’t perform elective abortions—which didn’t seem like a big deal at first, but then you realize it’s just a stepping stone to not allowing abortion at all.

But I never felt like providing abortion was the only thing I wanted to do, so initially it seemed okay that I would be able to provide information and referrals. But as time went on, that’s not true at all and it’s not okay. Especially coming from a place where abortion training was just part of our training. You would have had to actively opt out.