The Idaho “abortion trafficking” law is clearly aimed at keeping teens from traveling out of state for abortions since abortion is banned in the state, but Republicans closely followed model legislation from the National Right to Life Committee to create the pretense that this is about something other than restricting interstate travel. Under the new law, an “adult who, with the intent to conceal an abortion from the parents or guardian of a pregnant, unemancipated minor, either procures an abortion … or obtains an abortion-inducing drug” can be sentenced to two to five years in prison.
But it’s not about interstate travel, the law doth protest too much. Instead, “Recruiting, harboring, or transporting the pregnant minor within this state commits the crime of abortion trafficking.” Republicans are counting on the Republican-packed courts to okay that on the grounds that it so insistently doesn’t say anything about the necessity of crossing state lines if you’re an Idaho resident trying to obtain an abortion.
Protesting still more, Little wrote in a letter to the state House speaker, “The ‘abortion trafficking’ provision in the bill seeks only to prevent unemancipated minor girls from being taken across state lines for an abortion without the knowledge and consent of her parent or guardian.”
Republicans might as well erect a billboard saying “We know the ‘abortion trafficking’ law walks right up to the line of what even the most right-wing judges would say is unconstitutional, but hey, Justice Kavanaugh, we kept you in mind!”
”It’s remarkable that lawmakers believe that young Idahoans don’t have the capacity to make reproductive healthcare choices for themselves or deserve bodily autonomy, but believe that those same young people should have the capacity to raise and care for children on their own, without any major social or economic support,” the Northwest Abortion Access Fund said in a statement. It’s remarkable in the sense that it should be remarked on, but it’s a standard Republican position.
Idaho has already seen an exodus of doctors that played a role in forcing one hospital to close its labor and delivery services.
So this is the United States in 2023: A state that put Democrats in control in November took its abortion ban off the books months after voters guaranteed reproductive rights. Another state—one that often elects Democrats statewide but is heavily gerrymandered to ensure Republican control at the legislative level—elected a justice who will defend abortion rights over an anti-abortion extremist. And a third, fully controlled by Republicans, moved to make its abortion ban even more restrictive and punitive.
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Idaho Republicans invent a new crime: ‘Abortion trafficking’
