Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
- Republican Rep. Barbara Ehardt of Idaho Falls introduced House Bill 98 on Tuesday.
- Under the bill, transporting a pregnant minor in or outside Idaho would be considered human trafficking.
- Idaho outlaws abortions with exceptions for rape, incest, or life-threatening circumstances.
A new bill introduced in Idaho's House State Affairs Committee on Tuesday would classify the act of helping a pregnant minor get a "criminal abortion" as human trafficking.
Proposed by Republican Rep. Barbara Ehardt of Idaho Falls, House Bill 98 expands the state's existing trafficking laws and would restrict alternative ways a pregnant minor might seek an abortion.
The new piece of legislation represents one of the more novel methods lawmakers in states with strict abortion bans are trying to crack down on out-of-state procedures. According to Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research nonprofit, 9% of abortions were outside of one's state residence in 2020, two years before Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Under the bill, "recruiting, harboring, or transporting a pregnant minor with the intent to deprive the pregnant minor's parent of knowledge of, and to procure, a criminal abortion" would be considered "human trafficking."
Receiving a procedure or an "abortion-inducing drug provider" out of state would not be a viable defense that negates liability, according to the bill's text. Idaho shares borders with states that have no restrictions or allows abortions up to fetal viability, including Oregon, Montana, and Wyoming.
Penalties for violating the law would be two to five years in state prison.
The bill also stipulates that the Idaho attorney general has "sole discretion" to seek prosecution if a prosecuting attorney in a respective county refuses to seek charges.
Ehardt's office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Idaho currently has three separate bans on abortion that were upheld in the state supreme court in January after Planned Parenthood sought to challenge the restrictions.
One law prohibits abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, while another bans the procedure at conception, with exceptions for rape, incest, or life-threatening circumstances for the mother.
The state also has a civil enforcement law that allows family members of the aborted fetus to sue medical providers who performed the abortion.
States such as Texas also have similar enforcement laws. However, no state so far has passed legislation that would ban abortions conducted outside of one's state residence.
Ehardt's bill also makes a distinction from outright banning out-of-state abortions by focusing on the act of transporting minors to receive the procedure.
The bill is co-sponsored by Republican Idaho Sen. Cindy Carlson, Sen. Todd Lakey, and Rep. Kevin Andrus.
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