Idaho
Doctor org critiqued on pregnancy center idea. Now, it’s against funding clinics missing standards. • Idaho Capital Sun
After debating a draft resolution to oppose public funds for crisis pregnancy centers, the Idaho Medical Association’s policymaking body adopted a more broad policy to oppose public funds for clinics that skirt medical standards, said the association’s leader.
The more generic policy came after public outcry by anti-abortion pregnancy medical center Stanton Healthcare.
That was over the original — but not adopted — resolution that called for the Idaho Medical Association to oppose state and federal funds being used to support crisis pregnancy centers, and for the Idaho Medical Association to lobby “against efforts of the Idaho Legislature to direct funds for the support of” crisis pregnancy centers.
The unadopted resolution said crisis pregnancy centers as organizations “that pose as clinical centers” but “provide misinformation” and “are exempt from regulatory, licensure, and credentialing requirements that apply to legitimate health care facilities.”
Last week, Stanton representatives publicly chastised the Idaho Medical Association and said Stanton was considering legal options if the proposed resolution advanced, saying it contained false information about Stanton and other facilities.
Staton representatives celebrated the more narrow policy adopted.
“This resolution now emphasizes transparency and proper licensing for all clinics in Idaho, a change that demonstrates the impact of community advocacy and engagement in shaping public policy,” Stanton Healthcare Founder and CEO Brandi Swindell told the Idaho Capital Sun in a statement Tuesday. “We applaud the (Idaho Medical Association) for standing with the women of Idaho and diversity in healthcare options.”
The doctor representation group’s policymaking body approved the more generic, amended policy at its annual meeting last weekend, Idaho Medical Association CEO Susie Keller told the Sun in an interview.
The Idaho Medical Association had “absolutely nothing to do with the creation or the wording of the resolution in question,” said Keller, referring to the original resolution, which was proposed by a doctor who has worked with Planned Parenthood on abortion-related lawsuits.
Keller told the Sun it was disappointing and disheartening that the Idaho Medical Association was “unfairly attacked” and threatened with legal action “for simply allowing our members to bring forward policy proposals, according to our long-standing tradition.”
If adopted, proposed resolution would have opposed public funds for crisis pregnancy centers
Dr. Caitlin Gustafson, an Idaho physician who has publicly supported abortion rights, authored the original resolution that called for the Idaho Medical Association to oppose public funds for crisis pregnancy centers. It was sponsored by the Idaho Academy of Family Physicians and the Idaho Coalition for Safe Healthcare, according to a draft Keller shared with the Sun.
The proposed Idaho resolution said it would have ensured “government funding goes only to legitimate health care organizations that provide comprehensive, medically accurate, and nondirective counseling and referrals.”
Gustafson said there are about 20 crisis pregnancy centers across Idaho. She said she doesn’t know full information about each one, but she says past studies and patient interactions show “not all of them are providing the standards that we’d like to see upheld for any center offering health related services.”
Stanton Healthcare is privately funded and doesn’t charge for services. In Congress, federal lawmakers, including Republicans representing Idaho, have explored publicly funding crisis pregnancy centers, the Idaho Statesman reported.
The original resolution didn’t name specific clinics, Gustafson noted.
“Nothing about our resolution … in any way should be threatening to them, as long as they’re meeting the qualifications that we held up in our resolution,” Gustafson said of Stanton.
Before the Idaho Medical Association’s house of delegates meeting, Stanton Healthcare and the Idaho Family Policy Center, in news releases and newsletters last week, criticized the resolution.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
What Stanton said at press conference
In a news conference on Thursday on the front steps of the Idaho State Capitol Building, Stanton Healthcare medical staff and attorneys criticized the Idaho Medical Association for the proposed resolution as containing false accusations against what they called pregnancy resource centers.
Stanton Healthcare representatives at the news conference called for the Idaho Medical Association to retract the resolution and said Stanton was considering legal options if the Idaho Medical Association proceeded with the resolution.
“By spreading these baseless accusations,” Stanton’s community outreach director Atalie Snyder claimed the Idaho Medical Association chose “adopt a stance that is not only anti-life, but also anti-woman and anti-health care.”
But Stanton’s news conference was a day before the Idaho Medical Association’s house of delegates meeting was set to start. And the resolution was only proposed, and not ultimately adopted.
All of Stanton’s medical staff and volunteers are licensed and credentialed, including the clinic’s medical director who is a licensed OB-GYN, Stanton’s health care and medical services director, Samantha Doty, a physician assistant, said at the news conference. Stanton Healthcare is accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, Doty said.
“There is nothing fake about what we do at our clinics,” she said.
Three people who said they were Stanton clients spoke at the news conference about the support Stanton provided to them during and after their pregnancies.
Adopted policy opposes public funds to facilities that don’t follow health profession standards
The adopted policy, which Keller shared with the Sun, says the Idaho Medical Association “will oppose public funding to facilities that do not meet” health profession standards.
“That’s hard to argue with, and hopefully is not controversial, to say ‘Let’s uphold good standards, good faith and make sure patients are protected,” Keller said.
The Idaho Medical Association “believes that any entity that represents itself as offering health-related services should uphold the standards of truthfulness, transparency and confidentiality that govern health care professionals,” the policy says. “Healthcare services provided in such facilities should be medically accurate, non-directive, and provided by licensed professionals practicing within their scope of practice and within the standard of care.”
Keller said that the association’s house of delegates adopted the policy following debate by a proposed resolution that sought to oppose government funding for crisis pregnancy centers.
The meeting was private. The Idaho Capital Sun was not present for the debate or vote.
But according to Keller, in debating the original resolution, some people worried about some clinics’ documented practices of providing medically inaccurate information. But she said some doctors also said crisis pregnancy centers provided good services and information in their communities.
In debate, Keller said there was discussion about how practices differed across communities and the group avoided “painting all types of clinics with one broad brush.”
But Keller said she couldn’t immediately provide examples of facilities besides crisis pregnancy centers that the resolution would apply to.
How does the Idaho Medical Association establish policy?
Idaho Medical Association’s house of delegates meeting each year is the organization’s policymaking event.
That’s where physician members submit proposals on a variety of topics that they want the association to be engaged in, Idaho Medical Association CEO Susie Keller told the Idaho Capital Sun in an interview.
The Idaho Medical Association is a physician-driven organization, she said. Its members and trustees establish the organization’s policy, Keller said. The association’s staff, including its CEO, can’t set policy, she said.
The proposal was among around two dozen proposed resolutions this year on several issues, she said. The house of delegates is composed of around 130 doctors, she said.
The Idaho Medical Association has existed for over 100 years, and its house of delegates has existed for at least several decades, Keller said.
What regulations does Stanton Healthcare follow?
Stanton calls itself a pregnancy medical center because it offers medical services, Doty told the Sun in an interview last week.
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Stanton does not provide contraception, she said. But she said Stanton does offer natural family planning to help women track and avoid pregnancy chances by following fertility signs and symptoms.
The clinic is privately funded through donors, Doty said, and does not charge for services.
Stanton voluntarily follows HIPAA practices, but isn’t required to because it doesn’t bill insurance or charge for services, Swindell told the Sun in an email. Stanton also is subject to and complies with Idaho’s medical privacy laws, she said.
“We maintain the highest level of confidentiality and privacy with our clients, upholding a high standard of protection of their medical and personal information,” Swindell said.
She added that Stanton’s clients “read and sign a document confirming that they understand our privacy policies.”
Asked about how other Idaho pregnancy centers are regulated, Doty told the Sun each of the ones she knows of have licensed medical doctors serving as medical directors, but said she was unsure about whether they had the same third-party accreditation as Stanton.
Doty spoke at the Idaho Medical Association’s house of delegates meeting, Keller and Doty told the Sun. Before then, Doty told the Sun last week that she had never been to one of the association’s annual house of delegates meetings.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
I remember watching a documentary about Idaho’s wildlands. A narrator said there were probably many parts of the state where no human being has ever set foot. I believe that, but I stay relatively close to the highways. If I were 30 years younger, I would probably enjoy exploring the back country, but today, unless a plane takes me in and out, it’s not happening. I can’t say definitively that there is one spot that I find better than others. We’re surrounded by beautiful terrain, however. One place keeps calling me back.
Like a Scene from a Legendary Movie
When I go over the mountain between Gooding and Fairfield, I take time to stop at the overlook above the Camas Prairie. It reminds me of a scene in Exodus, where the Paul Newman character takes an American woman to look across a flat plain leading to Mount Tabor. He explains that’s the site where Deborah gathered her armies. It makes me feel there is something godly about the Camas Prairie. I keep going back to this spot. Sometimes I take along a folding chair and sit and look at the world below.
Slow Down and See the Work of the Creator
Fairfield may be nothing more than a blip as people speed down Route 20, but it’s their loss. On the other side of the highway is some of the prettiest country in Idaho. It’s going to be a lot less lush this spring, but drought conditions haven’t been nearly as severe in the central highlands. But if I’m granted a few more years by the Almighty, I plan to see the prairie for many more springs.
‘Miserable’: McCall 4th of July Getaway Gets Roasted
What was once a great little summer escape has become a total headache according to the internet
Gallery Credit: Mateo, 103.5 KISS FM
The results are in for the Idaho Lottery’s draw games on Sunday, April 19, 2026.
Here’s a look at winning numbers for each game on April 19.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from April 19 drawing
Day: 9-5-1
Night: 8-0-6
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from April 19 drawing
Day: 2-7-0-3
Night: 4-3-3-3
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Idaho Cash numbers from April 19 drawing
15-28-31-38-45
Check Idaho Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from April 19 drawing
32-42-52-53-55, Bonus: 05
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Idaho Lottery drawings held ?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3: 1:59 p.m. (Day) and 7:59 p.m. (Night) MT daily.
- Pick 4: 1:59 p.m. (Day) and 7:59 p.m. (Night) MT daily.
- Lucky For Life: 8:35 p.m. MT Monday and Thursday.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- 5 Star Draw: 8 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Idaho Cash: 8 p.m. MT daily.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a USA Today editor. You can send feedback using this form.
Idaho
‘Unrelenting’: Statehouse reporters recap 2026 legislative session in Idaho Falls – East Idaho News
IDAHO FALLS — Two prominent Idaho Statehouse reporters say this past legislative session was “unrelenting,” chaotic, largely driven by budget cuts, and they see the Legislature getting more powerful.
Kevin Richert and Clark Corbin recapped this past legislative session at a forum on the ISU Idaho Falls Campus on Thursday.
Richert is a senior reporter at Idaho Education News, with more than 30 years of experience covering education policy and politics. Corbin is a senior reporter at the Idaho Capital Sun who has covered every Idaho legislative session, gavel to gavel, since 2011.
The event was hosted by the City Club of Idaho Falls, which “exists to sponsor and promote civil dialogue and discourse on all matters of public interest” and strives to be “nonpartisan and nonsectarian,” according to its website.
Budget cuts
Both Richert and Corbin said this session was driven by budget cuts. Corbin said this was due to a lack of revenue stemming from past income tax and the adoption of new federal tax cuts.
“Cuts for almost every state agency and state department dominated the legislative session,” Corbin said. “We’re talking about 4% budget cuts for most state agencies and departments in the current fiscal year, and we’re talking about an additional 5% budget cuts for almost all state agencies and departments starting next year — fiscal year ’27 — and continuing permanently.”
RELATED | Gov. Little signs so-called ‘crappy bill’ to cut state budget
Richert said he thought higher education was taking the brunt of budget cuts. “It’s not a question of whether tuition fees are going to go up at the universities; it’s a question of how much,” he said.
When asked what the future would hold, Corbin said the budget cuts aren’t likely to go away, and their effects will be felt over time.
“There could always be a change of leadership in the House, but they do expect the budget crunch to continue in the next year’s legislative session,” Corbin said.
‘Radiator capping’
Richert said he has one word to describe this year’s legislative session: “unrelenting.”
One thing that made it feel that way was that some bills were recycled over and over, he said. For example, Richert said the Legislature saw five different versions of a bill that proposed cuts to the Idaho Digital Learning Alliance.
“We had multiple bills that came from the dead,” he said.
The journalists said this is partly due to a tactic called “radiator capping.” The term means to replace the entire car — the bill’s text, in political terms — while only keeping the radiator cap: the bill number. By rewriting a bill on the House or Senate floor while maintaining its number, failed bills can effectively bypass the committee process.
“Those are the changes they tried to make on immigration bills, on union bills this year,” Corbin said. “It made it extremely difficult for the public to have any idea what was going on, to have any opportunity to participate in the legislative process and share their opinions.
A more powerful, more chaotic Legislature
Richert said Idaho’s annual legislative sessions are trending longer, commonly going into the early part of April, and producing a record number of bills.
“There are rumblings that this Legislature, as a body, is wanting to expand its reach over more and have even more power over the other branches of government to the point of — are we trending towards more of a full-time professional legislature?” Richert said. “We’re a long way from there.”
“The legislative branch of government, particularly the Idaho House of Representatives, is the most powerful I’ve seen it in 16 years of covering state government,” Corbin said.
He added that this year’s legislative session was unlike any he’s experienced.
“The overall temperature in the building was bad,” Corbin said. “It was divisive. It was chaotic. People were not hiding their feelings of disgust for each other. These traditional ideas of decorum and respect very much fell by the wayside.”
Richert said Gov. Brad Little vetoed very few bills that came across his desk, and the ones he did weren’t high-profile.
RELATED | Idaho Gov. Brad Little issues 5 vetoes. Here are the bills affected
“I think the governor behaved like he was very concerned about the supermajority-controlled Legislature, and I think that that Legislature, in turn, asserted itself and took control of the agenda this year,” Corbin said.
Are legislators representing Idaho?
Corbin said some bills this year also focused on the LGBTQ+ community, such as a bathroom restriction for transgender individuals, and a bill that banned the City of Boise from waving a Pride flag.
RELATED | Idaho governor signs bill to criminalize trans people using bathrooms that align with their identity
RELATED | Boise removes LGBTQ+ pride flag as Idaho governor signs bill to fine city for its display
When asked if these were what Idahoans wanted, Corbin said it doesn’t necessarily appear so to him, based on his review of Boise State University’s annual public policy survey.
“For years and years, I’ve heard concerns about affordability of housing, access to housing, managing the growth of the state of Idaho, having quality public schools available for our young people — that also generates a workforce pipeline for some of our businesses,” Corbin said. “I’ve heard about paying for wildfires. I’ve heard about having good roads, supporting access to public lands, public recreation, those are the concerns I hear from Idahoans.”
“But the Legislature spent a significant amount of time over the last two, three, four years placing additional restrictions on LGBTQ communities, placing restrictions on what teachers can and cannot teach in their classrooms, what school boards can and cannot do,” Corbin continued. “They talked about requiring a moment of silence every day to begin the public school day, where children could pray or read the Bible.”
RELATED | Gov. Brad Little signs public school ‘moment of silence’ bill into law
Corbin said it may be his own opinion, but perhaps it is easier to “make a bunch of noise about what’s going wrong and (distract) people with social issues” rather than focus on harder issues that Idaho faces.
“I think what you saw on the policy space is a reflection of the fact that you had legislators thinking about reelection, and legislators with time on their hands — and that’s not always a good combination,” Richert said.
Accountability
When asked how people can keep legislators accountable, Corbin said it can be done by following the state Legislature through trusted news sources, going to community events and voting.
“This is a great year to practice accountability, because all 105 state legislators and all statewide elected officials are up for election this year,” he said.
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