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An appeals court still blocked a provision in the legislation that vaguely banned “recruiting” pregnant youth for abortions.
An appeals court has partially permitted an Idaho law that punishes adults for helping minors receive abortions in other states where the care is legal.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled earlier this week that the state's House Bill 242 could be enforced while a lawsuit against it moves forward, reversing a previous decision that prevented the law from taking effect. However, the court blocked a provision in the legislation that vaguely banned “recruiting” pregnant youth for abortions.
"Encouragement, counseling, and emotional support are plainly protected speech,” the court wrote, reported by ABC, even in the “context of deciding whether to have an abortion.” The provision is unconstitutional “because it prohibits a substantial amount of protected expressive speech.”
Idaho's law, the first of its kind in the nation, threatens two to five years in prison for "an adult who, 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 the pregnant minor to use for an abortion by recruiting, harboring or transporting the pregnant minor within this state commits the crime of abortion trafficking.”
The lawsuit challenging the legislation was first brought in 2023 by nonprofits Northwest Abortion Access Fund and the Indigenous Idaho Alliance. Wendy Heipt, an attorney representing the groups, told local outlet the Idaho Capitol Sun that “this decision is a significant victory for the plaintiffs, as it frees Idahoans to talk with pregnant minors about abortion health care.”
Idaho has a near-total abortion ban, which prohibits the care at any stage of pregnancy except in cases of medical emergencies or rape and incest, so long as a police report of the crime is provided. Abortion is legal in most of Idaho's neighboring states, including Washington, Oregon, and Montana. Washington allows minors to receive the care without parental permission, and Oregon requires parental permission for those under the age of 15.
Tennessee enacted a similar "abortion trafficking" ban, which was blocked in September after a judge similarly determined that "recruitment" bans violate the First Amendment.
