Panel sends ‘abortion trafficking’ bill to the floor

BOISE — The Idaho House State Affairs Committee passed a bill Friday making it illegal for an adult to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion, with the intent to conceal it from the parents or guardians of the minor. The penalty under the legislation would be between two and five years in state prison.

One person testified in favor and one testified against HB 242; the bill’s opponent argued it would put vulnerable young people who are seeking help at risk, especially those who are in abusive families.

Reps. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, and Kevin Andrus, R-Lava Hot Springs, sponsored HB 242, which creates a definition and criminal penalty for “abortion trafficking.”

“You will find that this is a parental rights bill,” Ehardt told the committee.

The majority of the introduction of the bill to the committee was done by Megan Wold, a lobbyist for Right to Life Idaho, instead of the bill’s sponsors. Ehardt said Wold could speak to the issue as an expert.

Wold said that underaged girls who become pregnant from an adult are at risk of the man seeking to obtain a “secret abortion” to hide abuse.

“This is a real problem and adults who engage in this type of behavior deserve to be criminally punished,” Wold said.

Under the bill, the Idaho attorney general would have the authority to prosecute someone in violation. If someone was charged under this legislation, there would be an affirmative defense for if the minor received parental consent before traveling for the abortion.

David Ripley, executive director of Idaho Chooses Life, called the bill “extraordinarily righteous.”

He said he’d heard rumors about national organizations arranging for transport of women and girls across state lines for abortions. He noted that the state can’t prevent adults from traveling to receive an abortion, but there is an interest in protecting the rights of minors’ parents.

Ripley called the bill a “brilliant solution to one part of the problem.”

Nora Morse of Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates Idaho testified that it would inhibit young people from seeking health care that’s legal in other states and punish the people trying to help them.

“It puts young people who do not feel safe disclosing a pregnancy to their parents at risk,” Morse said.

Morse also said punishing someone from accessing care that’s legal in other states “flies in the face of the American democratic system and sets an incredibly dangerous statutory precedent.”

Reps. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, and Brent Crane, R-Nampa, questioned Morse on her logic and if it would apply to those traveling to other states where drugs, such as marijuana, are legal and bringing back those drugs for other people.

“It seems like that argument would lend itself to a situation where somebody should be able to obtain illegal drugs from another state where they’re legal with no repercussions,” Young said to Morse.

Morse responded that someone seeking legal health care would be a different situation and “there would be no illegal activity in the state of Idaho.”

Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, said he didn’t feel confident that the bill is lawful as written because prosecutors don’t have jurisdiction over activity that occurs in another state.

“I think you have to be very careful before you start interfering with laws in another state,” Gannon said.

He was the only committee member to vote against sending the bill to the House floor for a full debate and vote.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.