One thing I can say about the Data Road Trip is that it’s taking me places I wouldn’t have thought to go on my own. Like Northern Idaho, which I had heard was lovely, but previously had no reason to trek out to.

The story here? Well, according to the numbers we found, Idaho has the lowest abortion rate in the country. Folks here have various opinions about why that might be, but it seems to relate to some combination of geography, politics, and religious beliefs. I asked a former Planned Parenthood organizer whether maybe fewer women in Idaho got pregnant in the first place… she had a good laugh at that one. She thought it was much more likely that women who get pregnant here and can’t keep the baby will sometimes leave the state to terminate the pregnancy. With abortion providers in just two counties in the state, for some people, crossing the state line is the fastest way to get medical attention.

Today, I ‘ve spent most of the day scouting out spots where I can start shooting when the rain subsides and the fog rolls away. I’m just seeing the sun peek out now, and the forecast says things will be clear by 4 pm or so.

Check out a glimpse of the rainy Pacific Northwest on Flickr!

See where this post was made on Google Maps

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 19th, 2007 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Data Road Trip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.