A federal judge has temporarily blocked the 'abortion trafficking' law in Boise, Idaho, from being enforced while a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality was in progress.
In May, abortion was banned in Idaho at all stages of pregnancy to prevent minors from getting abortions in the state.
Federal Judge Blocks 'Abortion Trafficking' Law
DES MOINES, IOWA - JULY 14: A vendor displays fetus models at the Family Leadership Summit where Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law that will ban most abortions after around six weeks of pregnancy on July 14, 2023 in Des Moines, Iowa. Several Republican presidential candidates were scheduled to speak at the event, billed as “The Midwest’s largest gathering of Christians seeking cultural transformation in the family, Church, government, and more.”
The new lawsuit in Idaho, signed by Gov. Brad Little on Wednesday, made it illegal to acquire abortion pills for a minor and help them leave the state for an abortion without their parent's knowledge and consent.
The law stated that the people who would help minors get an abortion would be charged with a felony. However, they can still defend themselves in court by showing evidence that a parent has permitted the procedure.
The supporters labeled the law an 'abortion trafficking' ban, and the opponents said that the law was an unjust prohibition on interstate travel and free speech rights.
Two advocacy groups and an attorney who advocates for sexual assault victims indicted the state and Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador this year.
Nampa attorney Lourdes Matsumoto, the Northwest Abortion Access Fund, and the Indigenous Idaho Alliance were all allies in helping minors who were seeking abortions. The lawsuit said the attorneys wanted to continue without the threat of prosecution.
U.S. District Magistrate Debora K. Grasham said in the ruling that the lawsuit was not just about the right to an abortion, but the lawsuit means so much more. She added that the lawsuit was also about well-recognized fundamental rights of freedom of speech, expression, due process, and parental rights.
Furthermore, the groups said the law violates the First Amendment right of free expression and the Fourth Amendment right to travel between states and within Idaho.
Grasham agreed with the state's attorneys that there was no legal defense of travel within the state under existing case law in Idaho and dismissed that part of the lawsuit.
However, she said that the other three claims could move forward. She explained that the plaintiffs intended to assist minors, which was an expression of their core beliefs and support for individuals seeking legal reproductive options.
"The state can, and Idaho does criminalize certain conduct occurring within its own borders, such as abortion, kidnapping, and human trafficking. What the state cannot do is craft a statute muzzling the speech and expressive activities of a particular viewpoint with which the state disagrees under the guise of parental rights," she said.
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Abortion Cases in Idaho
According to AP News, a woman and her son were charged by the prosecutors in eastern Idaho with second-degree kidnapping as the woman allegedly took the son's minor girlfriend out of the state to get an abortion.
The prosecutors did not cite the 'abortion trafficking' law in the incident as the woman and the son said they had performed the criminal kidnapping as they were intentionally keeping the girl away from her parents.
The case was still pending as the woman's defense attorney did not immediately return a phone call, and the son's court file was unavailable online. Furthermore, the decision to progress the case was not clear immediately.
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