Appeals court allows Idaho to enforce its ‘abortion trafficking’ law • Idaho Capital Sun

A group of federal judges on Monday largely upheld Idaho’s “abortion trafficking” law, a measure passed in the 2023 legislative session penalize an adult who assists a minor in obtaining an abortion or obtaining drugs that cause an abortion in another state.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion reverses U.S. Magistrate Judge Debora K. Grasham Decision of November 2023, the Enforcement blocked of the law after Idaho attorney Lourdes Matsumoto and two advocacy organizations, the Northwest Abortion Access Fund and the Indigenous Idaho Alliance, filed a lawsuit against the state. The plaintiffs claimed the law restricted freedom of speech, the right to travel and the right to free association and said it was too vague to be constitutional.

Idaho has a near-total ban on abortion at any stage of pregnancy, except for rape and incest victims who provide a police report documenting the crime and are no older than 12 weeks. It is surrounded by several states where abortion is legal, including Washington, Oregon and Montana. Washington allows minors to have an abortion without parental permission, and Oregon requires parental consent for girls under 14.

Matsumoto, an attorney who supports victims of domestic and sexual violence in southwest Idaho, including minors, was the first plaintiff in the lawsuit. Her work includes representing victims of sexual violence who become pregnant, and Matsumoto said she now feels limited in the advice she can give her clients Idaho Capital Sun previously reported.

The panel of Ninth Circuit judges concluded that the law is not too vague to be enforced and that it does not violate the First Amendment rights of the advocacy groups that filed the lawsuit.

However, they confirmed Grasham’s block for one reason. The panel concluded that the law’s language prohibiting “recruitment” for abortion-providing activities was overbroad and unconstitutional “because it prohibits a significant amount of protected expression.” But the other aspects of the law that do not allow individuals to “harbour” or “transport” minors for an abortion can remain in place, according to the ruling.

A member of the panel, Judge Carlos Bea, partially disagreed. He The plaintiffs were deemed to lack standing because they only sued the attorney general, who can only enforce the law if one or more district attorneys refuse to do so, and none of them have done so. Bea said he would completely lift the district court’s preliminary injunction and order the case dismissed.

“This is a tremendous victory for Idaho and the defense of the rule of law as written by the people’s representatives,” said Idaho Attorney General Raul said Labrador in a press release. “Idaho’s laws were specifically created to protect the life of the unborn and the mother. Trafficking a minor child for an abortion without parental consent puts both at great risk, and we will not stop protecting life in Idaho.”

Wendy Olson, an Idaho attorney representing the plaintiffs, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Originally the law House Bill 242introduced the crime of “abortion trafficking,” the first law of its kind in the country. Since its passage, the Tennessee legislature has implemented a similar law, but a judge there has failed to do so blocked its implementation currently.

According to the law, “an adult who, with the intent to conceal an abortion from the parents or guardian of a pregnant minor, either procures an abortion… or obtains an abortion drug for the pregnant minor to use for an abortion.” Recruiting, harboring, or transporting pregnant minors within this state constitutes the crime of abortion trafficking.”

Anyone convicted of “abortion trafficking” faces a prison sentence of between two and five years.

States Newsroom reproductive rights reporter Kelcie Moseley-Morris contributed to this story.

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