PHOENIX — Attorney General Kris Mayes joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general to file an amicus brief in a lawsuit challenging Idaho’s restrictive law making it a crime for adults to help minors travel out-of-state for abortion care.
The challenge to Idaho’s so-called abortion “travel ban” was filed in U.S. District Court in Idaho earlier this month by an attorney working with sexual assault victims, the Northwest Abortion Access Fund and the Indigenous Idaho Alliance. The amicus brief urges the court to block Idaho’s law immediately.
“We’ve seen that anti-choice extremists will attack privacy and fundamental healthcare rights over and over,” said Attorney General Mayes. “I will continue to take legal positions that will protect the health, safety, and privacy of all Arizonans; and I will always defend a woman’s autonomy. States are free to regulate abortion within their border, but Idaho’s restrictive law goes too far. When a state like Idaho prevents it residents from getting reproductive healthcare in their home state, those patients are entitled to seek out care in a state that lets patients make medical decisions without imposition of the government.”
In the amicus brief, the attorneys general argue that Idaho’s law not only endangers minors who live in Idaho, it also punishes medical providers and residents in other states for helping them access lawful abortion care outside of Idaho’s borders. Nor should Idaho be allowed to criminalize conduct that is legal in other states.
As the amicus brief observes, this attempt by a state to control its citizens’ freedom of movement, “cannot be reconciled with Supreme Court precedent, under which States cannot prevent their residents from accessing abortion care in other states where it is legal — much less from even accessing information about such lawful care."
Idaho’s abortion laws, among the most restrictive in the country, have resulted in significant increases in Idaho patients traveling to other states for care.
The brief, led by Washington, is also joined by California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C.
BACKGROUND
Since Attorney General Mayes’ first day in office, the team has hit the ground running with several reproductive rights-related cases already pending in the courts. She has joined with other states in affirmative litigation to preserve and expand reproductive freedoms in our state and across the country.
The Attorney General is actively litigating against an attempt to resurrect a territorial near-total ban on abortions. The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) is fighting to defend the court of appeals’ decision held that a licensed doctor who performs an abortion that is legal under the newer laws cannot be prosecuted under the older law.
Earlier this year, the Attorney General joined a multi-state lawsuit asking a federal court to lift unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone, a medication abortion drug that has been used safely for over twenty years. Because of Arizona's participation in this important lawsuit, mifepristone is currently legal and accessible in the state.
The AGO filed a brief opposing an anti-choice activist lawsuit seeking to ban access to mifepristone nationwide.
On the regulatory front, AGO has submitted comments in support of proposed federal regulation that would safeguard reproductive health care privacy under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
The Attorney General formed the first-ever Reproductive Rights Unit within the AGO. The six-member unit will allow the AGO to stay attuned to key issues and legal developments in the reproductive healthcare space, as well as coordinate with other states and groups nationwide to protect and expand access.
View the amicus brief HERE.