BOISE, Idaho — The coalition, Idahoans United for Women and Families, has filed a petition with the Secretary of State’s office and aims to present an abortion policy on the ballot for voters in 2026.
- If successful, the initiative will require gathering an estimated 64,000 to 65,000 signatures from registered voters across at least 18 legislative districts.
- Secretary of State Phil McGrane highlights the increasing number of petitions and the office’s role in ensuring the process is correctly followed.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
Efforts are underway to bring abortion access to Idaho voters in 2026.
“We're going through a citizens' ballot initiative. In the absence of our legislature making a fix to Idaho's quite extreme, quite broken reproductive health laws that have caused all kinds of problems in this state,” says Melanie Folwell, lead organizer for Idahoans United for Women and Families.
The coalition, Idahoans United for Women and Families, filed a petition with the Idaho Secretary of State's office on August 15.
“We are taking the question to the people of Idaho, who also have the power to make legislation,” says Folwell.
The group is considering four initiative options, each outlining different abortion guidelines regarding fetal development—up to 24 weeks—and impacts on the mother’s health or life.
“So the aim of our policies is to restore or protect certain rights related to reproductive healthcare, including birth control, in vitro fertilization, and abortion under certain circumstances. We believe that by doing this, we can empower doctors to again want to practice medicine here in Idaho,” says Folwell.
So what happens now that the petition is in the hands of the Secretary of State?
"Part of the initial process is that we receive it, we time-stamp it, and we begin validating the signatures to ensure everyone who signed the petition is a registered voter for the state of Idaho,” says Idaho Secretary Phil McGrane.
Once signatures are verified, the petition heads to the Attorney General for review. Once ballot titles are issued and the coalition finalizes one policy, they will begin the 18-month process of collecting the required signatures—across at least 18 legislative districts, with at least 6 percent of registered voters from each district.
“It’s going to be in the range of 64 to 65 thousand signatures that will be required,” says McGrane.
Secretary of State Phil McGrane tells me his office is seeing more and more petitions being filed for ballot consideration.
“Each year has its own flavor, with different issues. The role of our office and the county clerks is really just to oversee that the process itself is followed. We don't weigh in on the contents of the initiatives. Our role is just to ensure that every Idahoan has confidence that the processes have been followed and that they have a chance to exercise their vote and have a say in these important issues when they come before them on the ballot,” says McGrane.
