Idaho will seek to revive 'abortion trafficking' law in US appeals court
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[May 07, 2024]
By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) - Idaho will urge a federal appeals court on Tuesday to revive
a 2023 law making it a crime to help a minor cross state lines for an
abortion without her parent's consent, which a judge blocked in
November.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle
will hear the case challenging the law brought by Lourdes Matsumoto, a
lawyer and advocate who works with victims of sexual violence, and the
Northwest Abortion Access Fund and Indigenous Idaho Alliance which helps
people in Idaho access abortion.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Debora Grasham in Boise in a preliminary order
found that the law signed by Republican Governor Brad Little just over a
year ago violated the plaintiffs' rights to free speech and expression
under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The judge also found that the law is unclear about what counts as
illegal abortion trafficking.
Idaho has argued that the plaintiffs do not have legal standing to
challenge the law because they have no concrete plans to violate it, and
that the state "has every right to protect the rights of parents to be
present at a critical moment for their children."
Idaho bans almost all abortions, with narrow exceptions to save the
mother's life and for rape or incest that is reported to police.
However, it borders Washington, Oregon and Montana, which allow them.
Like other conservative jurisdictions, Idaho has sought to limit its
residents from traveling elsewhere for abortions.
Under the law, adults who help girls obtain surgical or medication
abortions without parental consent would face a minimum of two years in
prison if convicted.
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![](../images/050724PIX/news_y51.jpg)
Laurie Woodward Garcia from Tampa, Florida, holds a placard during a
"die-in" protest in support of reproductive rights and emergency
abortion care, as Supreme Court justices hear oral arguments over
the legality of Idaho's Republican-backed, near-total abortion ban
in medical-emergency situations, in Washington, U.S., April 24,
2024. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
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The plaintiffs have said that in addition to violating their First
Amendment rights, the law interferes with Idaho citizens'
constitutional right to interstate travel.
The case is one of several challenging laws that criminalize helping
residents travel to states where abortion is legal. The U.S. Supreme
Court in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that
had established a nationwide right to abortion.
A group of Alabama healthcare providers and a fund that helps people
in the state filed lawsuits last year seeking to block anyone from
being prosecuted under state law for helping someone travel out of
state for an abortion. The state's Republican attorney general had
suggested that Alabamans who did so could be prosecuted as criminal
accomplices.
The U.S. Department of Justice in November filed a statement in
support of those lawsuits, saying the Constitution protects the
right to travel for abortion.
(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Alexia
Garamfalvi and Richard Chang)
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