By Ruth Brown, Idaho Reports
The state faces another lawsuit over its abortion laws, this time coming from the higher education faculty unions.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday includes university professors and unions from the University of Idaho, Idaho State University and Boise State University. They claim Idaho laws impede speech by a public employee, including during instruction, and research at the state’s public universities.
The lawsuit targets the No Public Funds for Abortion Act, passed by the Legislature, and argues professors are under threat of criminal punishment for discussing abortion. It names Attorney General Raúl Labrador as defendant, as well as the Ada County, Bannock County and Latah County prosecutors.
“The NPFAA has stifled free and open academic inquiry about abortion across Idaho’s public universities. Professors who previously taught, discussed, or wrote about abortion no longer do so,” according to a copy of the complaint.
In the 2023 Legislative Session, Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, introduced House Bill 2 that would have allowed for academic exceptions in the law, but it failed to pass by the end of the session. The version of the bill that did pass, House Bill 22, did not include the language allowing for academic and classroom discussion.
The complaint from professors alleges the law stifled freedom of academic speech under the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment, or the right to due process.
“Abortion is a topic that implicates legal, social, political, and moral principles and values,” the complaint states. “Abortion is therefore a critical topic of study, discussion, and scholarship across numerous academic fields. Professor Plaintiffs and faculty members of the Union Plaintiffs have taught, discussed, and written about abortion in varied disciplines, including philosophy, history, literature, political science, sociology, journalism, and social work.”
The professors and unions ask the court to provide relief, stating the No Public Funds for Abortion Act cannot apply to academic speech, including speech related to academic instruction, course content, classroom discussion, advising and grading of student research and writing, and academic scholarship.
OTHER CHALLENGES
The lawsuit is one of several challenges currently pending against the state regarding its abortion laws.
Just last week, a federal judge ordered that physicians could not be prohibited from offering women out-of-state referrals for legal abortion. That lawsuit is ongoing.
In a different case, there’s still an injunction in place at the request of the Department of Justice, after it argued Idaho’s law conflicted with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, requiring all hospitals that accept Medicare to stabilize patients in a medical emergency. The DOJ argued in some situations, such as an ectopic pregnancy or major hemorrhage, an abortion can be a necessary treatment for the health of a mother.
There’s also a pending lawsuit regarding the state’s abortion trafficking law, which prohibits adults from taking a pregnant juvenile out of state for an abortion, without a parent’s consent. That litigation is ongoing.
Ruth Brown | Producer
Ruth Brown grew up in South Dakota and her first job out of college was covering the South Dakota Legislature. She’s since moved on to Idaho lawmakers. Brown spent 10 years working in print journalism, including newspapers such as the Idaho Statesman and Idaho Press, where she’s covered everything from the correctional system to health care issues. She joined Idaho Reports in 2021 and looks forward to telling stories about how state policy can impact the lives of regular Idahoans.