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.

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. 

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.

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.