BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a bill into law Wednesday making it illegal for an adult to help a minor get an abortion without parental consent.
The law is the first of its kind in the US and creates a new crime of “ abortion trafficking”, which prohibits adults from obtaining abortion pills for a minor or “recruiting, harboring or transporting a pregnant minor” without the consent of the minor’s parent or guardian.
Anyone convicted of breaking the law will face two to five years in prison and could also be sued by the minor’s parent or guardian. Parents who raped their child will not be able to sue, although criminal penalties for anyone who helped the child obtain an abortion will still apply.
To circumvent the violation of the constitutional right to travel between states, Idaho law makes only the in-state segment of a trip to an out-of-state abortion provider illegal.
Opponents have promised a legal battle.
“Once again, the Governor of Idaho ignored the voters and signed HB 242 into law, creating the nation’s first crime of so-called ‘abortion trafficking.’ This legislation is despicable, and we are going to do everything in our power to stop it,” the director of the Idaho State Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates-West said on Twitter Wednesday.
Idaho is one of 13 states that already effectively ban abortion at all stages of pregnancyand it is one of the few states that already have laws that penalize those who help people of any age to abort.
State leaders in Washington, Oregon and California have promoted The west coast as a safe haven for abortion procedures, and lawmakers in Oregon and Washington are considering bills to protect abortion providers and patients from criminal liability. oregon bill it would allow doctors to perform abortions on anyone, regardless of age, and would prohibit them in certain cases from disclosing that information to parents.
Thirty-six states require parental involvement in a minor’s decision to have an abortion, though most allow exceptions in certain circumstances, such as medical emergencies, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.