Pro-abortion groups challenge Idaho law protecting minors from abortion trafficking
Earlier this year, Idaho enforced the law aims to protect minors from abortion trafficking. The law prohibits minors from being transported across state lines for abortion procedures. Those found guilty of violating this law face between two and five years in prison.
Pro-abortion activists are now pushing back, asserting that banning abortion trafficking violates constitutional rights. Two advocacy groups filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday claiming the law violates the First Amendment right to discuss abortion with minors and the Fourth Amendment right to interstate travel.
The lawsuit was initiated by activist group Legal Voice, representing Nampo attorney Lourdes Matsumoto, the Northwest Abortion Access Fund, and the Indigenous Idaho Alliance. These groups say Idaho’s pro-life laws, which protect preborn children throughout the nine months of pregnancy, are “draconian” and the “worst in the nation.”
“Although many minors faced with an unintended pregnancy choose to involve their parents, many do not,” the lawsuit states. “There are minors who do not or have no access to their parents. There are minors who fear angering or disappointing their parents, as well as those who face the threat of violence in their homes.”
However, the lawsuit fails to address the reality of abortion trafficking, which is a real problem that laws like Idaho’s want to address.
READ: The link between sex trafficking, abortion, and Planned Parenthood
Sadly, human trafficking has an alarming impact 27.6 million individuals around the world, and the co-victims of human trafficking for abortion are often the same predators who exploit they In a disturbing investigation called “Helping Abusers,” Live Action reveals a disturbing pattern of child sexual abuse cover-ups within Planned Parenthood, spanning decades. Through documented cases, interviews with former workers, and shocking instances of involvement in sex trafficking, the investigative video series shed light on the issue of abortion trafficking.
While Idaho’s laws aim to protect the preborn, the abortion laws of neighboring states are more lenient. The Associated Press reports that’s in the year since the US Supreme Court was overruled Roe v. Wadestates surrounding Idaho saw large increases in abortions, including nearly 1,500 in Washington, more than 1,300 in Oregon and nearly 2,600 in Nevada, according to data from the pro-abortion Society of Family Planning.
Judge Debora K. Grasham of the Idaho District Court is appointed the lawsuit. The case is expected to continue in the coming weeks.
According to one emailer statement to the Idaho Capital Sun from Emily Kleinworth, spokeswoman for Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s office, the AG’s office cannot comment on pending legislation but is prepared to “vigorously defend the constitutionality of laws duly passed by Legislature.”
