Eugene OBGYN moved from Idaho to be able to provide care to patients legally

A recent paper published in JAMA shows that Idaho has lost approximately 35 percent of doctors specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, leaving many counties without any maternal or reproductive health care providers at all.  That comes after the state passed one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Amber Nelson, executive director of the Idaho Coalition for Safe Healthcare, says 85% of these practicing specialists work in just seven of the state’s urban counties.

Dr. Amelia Huntsberger was a practicing OBGYN in Idaho for many years before the ban. But after the ban, the emotional strain of navigating patient care amid the possibility of prosecution, led to the painful decision to uproot her family and move out of state. Huntsberger now practices in Eugene, but she says her family still deals with the grief that transition brought. We talk with her and Nelson about the larger trends and what they mean in the lives of women seeking reproductive and material care.