LDS Church opposition could sway Idaho voters on pro-abortion ballot initiative

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is urging its members in Idaho to oppose Proposition 1, a ballot initiative that pro-life advocates say would dismantle the state’s protections for unborn children and allow abortion after fetal viability in some circumstances.

Church leaders announced their opposition in a letter scheduled for reading in local congregations Sept. 20 and Sept. 27, just as absentee voting began and about six weeks before the Nov. 3 election. The letter states that the church opposes this initiative and joins “with other like-minded individuals and organizations working against this initiative” and encourages “our members to voice their opposition to it in a respectful manner.” 

The measure, known as the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, would replace the state’s current Idaho’s Defense of Life Act with a broad statutory “right” to abortion before fetal viability and after viability in medical emergencies. It defines “fetal viability” as determined on a case-by-case basis according to a physician’s judgment whether the fetus could survive outside the womb without “extraordinary medical measures.”

The Defense of Life Act, which took effect in August 2022, generally prohibits abortion except in cases of rape or incest or when a physician determines that an abortion is necessary to prevent the mother’s death. Pro-life organizations estimate that the act has saved nearly 6,000 unborn children, Zeale News previously reported. 

The Latter-day Saint Church’s position could carry particular weight in Idaho, where Latter-day Saints account for roughly one-quarter of the population and represent the state’s largest religious group, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. The church reports that nearly 500,000 of the approximately 2 million people who live in the state belong to the church.

About 70% of Latter-day Saints nationwide believe abortion should be illegal in all or most circumstances, according to a Pew Research Center survey cited by the Tribune. A separate 2024 study cited by the outlet found that one quarter of members believed the decision to have an abortion should be left to a woman and her doctor.

Political observers told the outlet that the church’s announcement may not dramatically change public opinion but could motivate members to vote against the measure and influence undecided churchgoers.

“In a close election, effects around the margins can still matter,” Sam Martin, a professor of political communication at Boise State University’s Frank Church Institute, told the Tribune.

Martin said the voters “worth watching” are Latter-day Saints members who personally oppose abortion but believe Idaho’s current pro-life laws are too restrictive. 

“The church’s opposition,” she said, “may provide an important cue for voters who feel cross-pressured between those two positions.”

Although the church has long taught that elective abortion conflicts with God’s commandments, it allows for possible exceptions when a pregnancy results from rape or incest, a physician determines that the “life or health” of the mother is in “serious jeopardy,” or a fetus has “severe defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth.” The church notes that even those circumstances do not automatically justify abortion.

Quin Monson, a political scientist at church-owned Brigham Young University, has studied Latter-day Saint political views for years. He told the Tribune that when the church makes a “public, clear endorsement of a political position, it is very likely to move church members toward that position as a group.” 

He added that the statement could “solidify” opposition among Latter-day Saints and “encourage some turnout.”

University of Tampa sociologist Ryan Cragun similarly said the statement could convince the “roughly a quarter or more moderate-to-progressive” Latter-day Saints to oppose the proposition. 

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