Press Releases
08/01/2023
Attorney General Tong Argues Idaho's Abortion "Travel Ban" is Illegal
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong this week joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general filing 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.
“Idaho’s draconian abortion ban caused patients to flee the state for medical care, so they went ahead and criminalized interstate travel as well. This is a blatantly unconstitutional overreach, with dire consequences for the health and safety of Idaho patients. These kinds of extremist laws are precisely why Connecticut passed the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act, and why we will continue to fight on every front to protect access to safe, legal abortion,” said Attorney General Tong.
In today’s amicus brief, the attorneys general argue that Idaho’s law not only endangers minors from Idaho, it also punishes other states’ medical providers and residents for helping them access lawful abortion care outside of Idaho’s borders.
“This 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,” the brief asserts.
Further, the attorneys general argue, Idaho should not be allowed to criminalize legal conduct in other states.
Idaho’s abortion laws, among the most restrictive in the country, have resulted in significant increases in Idaho patients coming to other states for care. For example, Washington state clinics reported an unprecedented 75% increase in Idaho patients between January 2022 and early 2023. Planned Parenthood’s clinic in Pullman, Wash., reported that 62% of its patients were from Idaho in June 2022 — the same month the U.S. Supreme Court released its decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The next month, Idahoans made up nearly 80% of its patients. Pullman is just eight miles from the Idaho border. Other states bordering Idaho have seen similar increases in Idaho patients.
This is not the first time Connecticut has weighed in on Idaho’s restrictive abortion laws. In August 2022, Connecticut joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general led by California and New York to file a friend of the court brief supporting the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit challenging another of Idaho’s restrictive laws.
The brief, led by Washington, is joined by Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C.
Assistant Attorneys General Alma Nunley and Emily Gait, Special Counsels for Reproductive Rights and Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Bannon assisted the Attorney General in this matter.
- Twitter: @AGWilliamTong
- Facebook: CT Attorney General
Media Contact:
Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov
Consumer Inquiries:
860-808-5318
attorney.general@ct.gov