Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a law on April 5 making it a crime to transport minor girls across state lines to get an abortion without parental knowledge and consent.
The law, which takes effect in 30 days, doesn’t infringe on an adult woman’s ability to seek an abortion in another state, Little said in a letter to Idaho House Speaker Mike Moyle.
“Rather, 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,” Little said.
According to the law, abortion trafficking occurs 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 by recruiting, harboring, or transporting the pregnant minor” to another state for the procedure.
Abortion trafficking in Idaho carries a penalty of two to five years in prison. The law further stipulates that any medical professional who performs an abortion will face a minimum civil penalty of $20,000 in damages.
It adds that any relative who assists in the unlawful trafficking of a minor girl for an abortion could be held liable for damages.
However, the law doesn’t allow civil actions for abortions performed on women who became pregnant through rape, sexual assault, incest, or “other criminal conduct.”
Little’s signing of the law drew a sharp rebuke from Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates–West.
“Yet again, Idaho’s governor disregarded constituents and signed HB242 into law, creating the nation’s first crime of so-called ‘abortion trafficking,’” the organization wrote in a Twitter post on April 5.
Opponents Vote to Block Law
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark legislation that made abortion legal in the United States for 50 years.The Democrat-led states that provide abortions nearest to Idaho are Oregon and Washington.
In an April 4 letter, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee urged Little to veto HB242, a bill that Inslee said would “most certainly have many unacceptable consequences that cannot be cured.”
“Among the harmful impacts that this legislation will have—particularly when combined with Idaho’s recently passed abortion bans—are the exodus of some health care professionals from your state as well as the certain resulting increased mortality rate of Idahoan women and girls,” Inslee wrote, also questioning the law’s “constitutionality.”
“I fear that our residents, in particular the women and girls of Washington, will be in grave danger if they travel to your state and find themselves in need of urgent reproductive health care services.
“This bill would also attempt to punish some Washington residents who happen to be in your state for any length of time, a gross abuse of their right to travel between our states. As a result, all Washingtonians have a stake in this matter,” Inslee said.
“But, make no mistake, Governor Little, the laws of another state that seek to punish anyone in Washington for lawful actions taken in Washington will not stand.”
Inslee vowed to protect Washington health care providers and to “harbor and comfort [Idaho] residents who seek health care services denied to them in Idaho.”
