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A federal appeals court has ruled that Idaho can enforce its abortion travel ban, which prohibits minors from traveling out of state for abortions without parental consent.
The decision Monday by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a 2023 decision that had blocked the law on First Amendment grounds.
The law, signed last year by Gov. Brad Little (R), created a new felony called “abortion trafficking,” defined as when an “adult ... 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” for that minor. “Abortion trafficking” also involves “recruiting, harboring, or transporting” a pregnant minor for an abortion, the law states. Violations are punishable by two to five years in prison.
The law’s sweeping language criminalizes anyone transporting a pregnant minor without parental consent within Idaho to get any abortion care, even outside a clinic. It could apply to a grandmother driving a pregnant minor to the post office to pick up a package containing abortion medication, for example.
This decision is devastating for young people in Idaho and the trusted adults who support them,” Rebecca Gibron, the CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai‘i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, said in a press release.
“Instead of protecting our youth, this law puts them in harm’s way,” she continued. “It forces minors in abusive households to disclose pregnancies, often with severe consequences, while also criminalizing those who would offer them help.”
With all the love in my heart, if you've ever wanted to break a law, pick this one or one like it. I'm not currently in a state experiencing this particular brand of horseshit, but if Idaho had to mass incarcerate women, it would collapse. Our social safety net in the US is women, and one weapon we have in this sense is sanctioning it.
The USA needs 4B. No more sex.