The study — published Thursday in the JAMA Network Open, a division of the Journal of the American Medical Association — found that Idaho lost 35% of its doctors who practiced in obstetrics. In total, Idaho lost 94 of those doctors out of 268 between August 2022 and December 2024, the study found.
Idaho’s abortion ban took effect in 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned national abortion protections. Some OB-GYNs, including maternal-fetal medicine specialists, said publicly that they were leaving because of the ban.
“These results provide a stark picture of a rapidly declining maternal health workforce in our state,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Edward McEachern, said in a statement.
The study appears to confirm findings from a report in February 2024 by the Idaho Physician Well-Being Action Collaborative that found Idaho lost 22% of its practicing obstetricians since the state’s abortion bans took effect.
Despite calls for change in the three years Idaho’s ban has been in place, including by the state’s top medical association, Idaho lawmakers have largely refused to modify Idaho’s strict abortion laws. Organizers are collecting signatures to qualify a ballot initiative in November 2026 that could end Idaho’s strict abortion bans and establish reproductive freedom rights.
“Since Idaho’s abortion ban went into effect, (the Idaho Medical Association) has raised the alarm about the unintended consequences of criminalizing medically necessary care for pregnant women,” Idaho Medical Association CEO Susie Keller said in a statement. “This study clearly shows how our legal environment is causing physicians to leave the state and making it more difficult to recruit new ones to take their place. Idaho is digging a physician workforce hole that will take years, if not decades, to fill.”
Over 40% of the obstetrics doctors Idaho lost since its abortion bans took effect moved out of state, the study found. More than a fifth retired, but some narrowed their medical practice focus to gynecology or stopped practicing in rural areas, the study found.
The study pulled information from publicly available professional credentialing sources, physician websites, national registries and confirmation from the doctors.
The vast majority of Idaho’s remaining OB/GYN doctors are practicing in the state’s seven most populated counties, the study found. Just 23 OB/GYN doctors practice in Idaho’s other 37 counties that are home to nearly a quarter of the state’s population, compared to 151 in Idaho’s seven most populated counties, according to the study.
This story first published in the Idaho Capital Sun. Read the original here.
