By Isabelle Wilson-
A gender and LGBTQ rights advocacy group has filed a lawsuit challenging Idaho’s “abortion travel ban” on the basis that the law is overly vague and unconstitutional.
The travel ban which took effect May 5, created the crime of “abortion trafficking,” punishable by a minimum of two years in prison. It forbids helping a person under 18 years old obtain abortion pills or leave the state for abortion care without parental permission.
AD: Capeesh Restaurant
The complaint filed in federal court in Boise, Idaho, says the ban infringes on the right to interstate travel and on First Amendment rights to speak about abortion and “engage in expressive conduct, including providing monies and transportation (and other support) for pregnant minors traveling within and outside of Idaho.”
The suit also says the travel ban “lacks clarity” and “invites arbitrary enforcement,” raising the spectre of traffic stops of girls of reproductive age, and infringes on the right of people to cross the border into neighbouring states, including Washington, where minors can legally obtain abortion care without parental consent.
Wendy Heipt, senior reproductive health and justice counsel at Legal Voice, an advocacy group representing the plaintiffs, said Idaho’s law prohibits “recruiting or harbouring a minor, but what constitutes recruiting? Giving information? You can’t stop [my clients] from providing information about conduct that is legal in another state.”
AD: Oysterian Sea Food Restaurant And Bar
She added, “If we want to give money to a minor to go to another state, we should be able to do that.”
In a statement, Idaho’s Office of the Attorney General said, “While we don’t comment on pending litigation, our office is always prepared to vigorously defend the constitutionality of statutes duly passed by the legislature.”
Legal experts say the ban, based on a model bill written by National Right to Life, one of the country’s largest anti-abortion groups, is drafted to sidestep implied constitutional protections for interstate travel.
“This National Right to Life proposal was designed to chip away at travel in a way that is less politically and legally risky,” said Mary Ziegler, a professor of law at the University of California-Davis and an abortion historian. “It’s easier to package this as a Republican parental rights initiative, and it’s easier legally because courts have been willing to countenance limits on minor rights that they wouldn’t countenance on adults.”
She added, “The idea is to stop people from traveling to other states,” and teen travel bans “could be a steppingstone to limit an adult’s right to travel.”
Those who are found guilty of violating this law face between two and five years in prison. The Idaho state government enacted some of the strictest restrictions on abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, banning abortions at all stages of pregnancy apart from some exceptions for rape, incest and cases where the mother’s life is threatened.
In its suit, Legal Voice criticised the law as “draconian” and infringing on multiple rights.
“The statute is unconstitutional. It is poorly written. It is vague and unclear in the conduct it
prohibits,” the suit stated.
“It infringes on First Amendment rights to speak about abortion and to associate and to engage in expressive conduct, including providing monies and transportation (and other support) for pregnant minors traveling within and outside of Idaho to access out-of-state legal abortion care,” it continued.
Republican lawmakers in Idaho have characterized the bill as a parental rights bill and not a ban on interstate travel. Regardless of how the bill is worded, the plaintiffs argue that the net outcome is still an interstate travel ban in effect and was the intent of the those who supported the legislation.
“This right to travel is not only a right to travel interstate but a recognized right to travel intrastate, sometime referred to as the right to movement,” the suit stated, further citing previous rulings that had found the Constitution “protects the right of a citizen of one State to enter and to leave another State.”
The organization further argued that a ban on interstate travel to seek care is particularly harmful due to Idaho’s physician shortage. Data from the state government suggests that Idaho’s number of physicians per capita is significantly lower than the national average.
EPA proposes stricter regulations on lead exposure in residential buildings
Jim Jordan lists DOJ, FBI, Homeland Security targets for funding bills
In Idaho, minors must obtain the permission of their parents before obtaining an abortion, and Legal Voice argued “not all minors have a strong, trusting, or stable relationship with a parent or guardian.”
The plaintiffs are asking that the abortion travel ban be declared a violation of the First Amendment, an infringement on the right to interstate travel and that Labrador be blocked from enforcing the law.
AD: Heritage And Restaurant Lounge Bar