Dr. Cooper’s Story
Dr. Kylie Cooper Never Planned to Leave Idaho. The Abortion Ban Changed That.
When Dr. Kylie Cooper accepted a position in Boise after completing her maternal-fetal medicine fellowship, she knew exactly why she wanted to come to Idaho.
As a specialist in high-risk pregnancies, she understood that Idaho faced a serious shortage of physicians, particularly those trained to care for women experiencing complex pregnancy complications. She and her family built a life in Boise, established deep friendships, and spent nearly five years caring for Idaho families during some of the most joyful—and sometimes the most devastating—moments of their lives.
Then Idaho's abortion ban took effect in 2022.
For Dr. Cooper, the law didn't change how often pregnancy complications occurred. It changed what she was legally allowed to do when they happened.
She explains that abortion is sometimes the medically accepted treatment for pregnancy complications such as early onset preeclampsia, certain cancers diagnosed during pregnancy, life-threatening infections, and pregnancies involving fatal fetal conditions. The same treatments used for abortion are also used to support women through miscarriage and stillbirth.
“I felt very afraid. In addition to fear for my patients and what could happen to them, I feared for myself and for my colleagues. There was just so much uncertainty on how this would play out. You worry that by doing the right thing for the patient that someone may question your judgement or say it doesn’t qualify—even if it was the care that patient needed. ”
When the law changed, many Idaho families suddenly found themselves traveling out of state for care while physicians navigated legal uncertainty in moments when every minute mattered.
As a maternal-fetal medicine physician, Dr. Cooper often met families whose pregnancies were deeply wanted but suddenly complicated by diagnoses they had never imagined. Her role was to provide expert medical guidance, compassion, and support—even when she could not change the outcome.
After the abortion ban took effect, healthcare changed considerably. Rather than asking only what treatment was medically appropriate, physicians also had to consider whether their clinical judgment might later be questioned in court. Dr. Cooper said physicians would have to pause before taking action—not because medicine required hesitation, but because legal consequences suddenly became part of emergency medical decision-making.
She worried not only about her patients, but about the possibility of criminal prosecution and what that would mean for her own young family.
Ultimately, when considering the dangers of practicing in Idaho, Dr. Cooper and her husband made the decision to leave.
She describes the decision as heartbreaking. She loved her patients, her colleagues, and the community her family had built. But she ultimately concluded she could no longer practice the kind of evidence-based medicine she had been trained to provide.
Today, Dr. Cooper practices maternal-fetal medicine in Minnesota. She remains deeply concerned about Idaho, where physician shortages have continued and patients face increasing barriers to specialized pregnancy care.
Her hope is that Idahoans better understand that pregnancy complications are not rare exceptions. They happen every day, often without warning, and every family deserves access to the medical care their doctors know is safest.
