The University of Idaho has warned its employees not to provide reproductive health counseling, including abortion, to their students or they may risk losing their jobs or criminal prosecution.
According to a memo the university’s general counsel sent to all employees Friday, Idaho law prohibits university employees from promoting, counseling or referring someone for an abortion, and prohibits the institution from dispensing drugs classified as emergency contraception except in cases of rape. The memo was intended to help UI staff understand the complexity of the law.
The memo primarily focused on a law passed in the 2021 session of the Idaho Legislature prohibiting public funds from being used to “procure, counsel in favor, refer to or perform an abortion.” The University of Idaho and other public schools across Idaho are subject to the law since they are state-funded institutions.
The guidance says UI employees cannot dispense birth control to students under the Idaho law.
Standard birth control prescriptions can still be dispensed by workers at student health facilities, according to the memo, which are administered by Moscow Family Health and not the university. Condoms can be provided for prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, the guidance said, but not as a method of birth control, under the law.
Jodi Walker, spokesperson for the University of Idaho, said in an email that the...
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