A bill introduced in Idaho's House of Representatives would criminalize the transportation of a minor within the state or across state lines to seek an abortion as a violation of the state's human trafficking law.
Republican Rep. Barbara Ehardt introduced House Bill 98 on Tuesday, which would amend existing Idaho law "to prohibit the recruiting, harboring, or transporting of a pregnant minor to procure an abortion and to provide certain requirements and restrictions on a civil action," according to the legislation.
The legislation would apply to any instance where a child under the age of 18 is transferred within Idaho to receive an illegal abortion or across state lines to a state where abortion is legal. Anyone who recruits, harbors or transports "a pregnant minor with the intent to deprive the pregnant minor's parent of knowledge of, and to procure, a criminal abortion" could face two to five years in prison.
Current Idaho law, which was passed in 2022 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, bans all abortions in the state with the exception of the life of the mother or in cases of rape and incest that are reported to law enforcement.
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The bill would also give Idaho's Attorney General the "sole discretion" to prosecute a person for violating the law regarding human trafficking or abortion if the prosecuting attorney refuses to prosecute violations "without regard to the facts or circumstances."
