RYAN: I Took an Oath to Protect the Unborn—Vote No on Prop 1

By Dr. Daniel Ryan

As a physician, I vowed to protect the unborn as thousands of physicians throughout the history of medicine have also vowed. I urge you to join me in protecting the unborn by voting against Proposition 1, the so-called “Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act Initiative.”

This Proposition would destroy Idaho’s laws protecting unborn infants.The Heartbeat Law and the Defense of Life Act have greatly reduced abortions in Idaho (see idahofamily.org/issues/), permitting only abortions of pregnancies that would have taken the life of the mother.

I was disappointed, though not surprised, to see my colleague Dr. Robin Sautter write in favor of the pro-abortion Prop 1. Now I will almost certainly run into Dr. Sautter at Winco. Or she will give life-saving care to someone related to me in Moscow. And I will be thankful for her work, but her stance on this bill is evil.

Dr. Sautter’s criticism of Idaho’s pro-life laws are that they 1) are vague and 2) that they are making OBGYN doctors move away.

I noticed that her article does not quote the law she thinks is vague nor is there an explanation of how it is vague. I’m curious if Dr. Sautter has actually read the Heartbeat or Defense of Life laws or if she is like another physician, Dr. Stacy Seyb in Boise who, while making a legal attack on our prolife laws in 2025, testified under oath that he had not even read the laws. 

Dr. Sautter claims our laws are vague and thus, under fear of legal action, they become paralyzed and cannot “save lives.” Nothing turns off an MD’s moral reasoning like the threat of legal action.

The law’s wording, however, is clear and easy to read. It forbids abortion, but gives permission to physicians to make exceptions “in good faith and medical judgment when necessary to prevent death of the mother.” What’s more, the Idaho Supreme Court has already scrutinized and ruled on the language of this law as clear and commonsensical. 

What really scares doctors like Sautter and Seyb is not vagueness in our laws, but the responsibility it creates. The law is easy on women and hard on doctors, as it should be. Doctors prefer when guidelines are as specific as possible, and this law speaks in generalities. This means that doctors can save the lives of mothers from dangerous pregnancies but must make a medical case for it. Rather than embrace the responsibility of making judgments in difficult situations, they simply threaten to “take-their-ball-and-go-home.”

It is an unfortunate truth that generally speaking, doctors are opposed to more than just our laws. They are opposed to conservative Chrtisitan morality and culture.

As the culture in Idaho becomes more prolife, (one of the glorious consequences of these laws), we should not be surprised when leftist doctors start to leave. Also, with abortions illegal, abortionists will naturally have less money to make and so we should expect some to move to more lucrative grounds.

The word “infant” means someone who cannot speak. In the womb, the infant cannot even cry or scream. They are therefore the most defenseless kind of human.

Our prolife laws encourage a culture of honoring the weak, delayed gratification, and self-sacrifice for the greater good. It encourages doctors to uphold the oath they took to do no harm and to exercise their powers of judgment on behalf of their patients and not simply follow the factory-issued dictums of the woke medical establishment.  Returning to abortion on demand invites violence to the most vulnerable and encourages a quick-fix, bloody culture where it is best to kill off the people who are in the way of what you want. It is bad for everyone. Please vote against it.

About Daniel Ryan

Daniel Ryan, MD, is a general internist from Moscow, ID. He graduated with his BS from the University of Idaho and with his MD from the University of Washington School of Medicine. He is devoted to caring for his patients in rural Inland Northwest where he and his wife raise their 5 children.

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