Volunteers in North Idaho and across the state will collect signatures on Election Day for a reproductive rights ballot initiative that aims to restore abortion access in Idaho.

Idahoans United for Women and Families will host drive-through signature gathering events from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 4, giving Idahoans the opportunity to sign the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act petition. 

In Coeur d’Alene, residents can sign the petition in the parking lot of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 501 E. Wallace Ave. In Sandpoint, petitions can be signed in the Matchwood Brewing parking lot, 513 Oak St. 

The Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act would establish a right to make “private reproductive health care decisions” in Idaho, including the right to make decisions about contraception and fertility treatments, pregnancy and childbirth, miscarriage care and abortion before fetal viability. 

The act would also preserve the right to abortion after viability in medical emergencies, with emergencies to be determined on a case-by-case basis through “a physician’s good faith medical judgement.” 

The effort to college signatures for the proposed ballot initiative began in July, nearly three years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The reversal allowed states to regulate abortion, activating trigger bans on abortion in several states, including Idaho. 

The ballot initiative process allows voters to propose their own policies that carry the power of law, if approved by a majority vote. To qualify for the ballot in fall 2026, the measure must collect more than 70,000 signatures by spring. 

“Across Idaho, more than 1,000 volunteers have stepped up to collect signatures in their hometowns — at farmers markets, festivals, and door-to-door in their neighborhoods,” Melanie Folwell, executive director of Idahoans United, said in a news release. “But winter is coming, which means it will be harder to reach people. That’s why we are meeting voters where they are — at the polls — to make it as simple as possible to participate.”