Lysa Salsbury was working remotely from her daughter’s home in Texas when the University of Idaho’s abortion memo came out. It was at the end of the day Friday, and she was afraid.
The Women’s Center acts as a confidential reporting location for sexual assault on campus. However, they are also University of Idaho employees. As such, they are some of the faculty and employees affected by the Idaho laws that prevent public employees from speaking about contraception or abortion in any form.
“The two overwhelming reactions I saw were anger and fear,” Director of the Women’s Center Salsbury said, sitting in her office.
Salsbury has been at the Women’s Center since 2005. The largest strain of the memo is that the center is no longer able to discuss the options they used to, including contraceptives. However, the center is still allowed to provide condoms for the purpose of preventing sexually transmitted infections.
This is brought on by the No Public Funds for Abortion Act, a law that, while preventing the government from contracting abortion providers or their affiliates, also places a gag order on public government employees from advocating or advising on abortion.
“No person, agency, organization, or any other party that receives funds… may use those funds to perform or promote abortion, provide counseling in favor of abortion, make referral for abortion, or provide facilities for abortion or for training to provide or perform abortion,.” Idaho’s code reads.
The act, introduced as House Bill 220 of the 2021 Idaho Legislative Session, is also joined by a pre-Roe law preventing people who are not healthcare providers from providing information regarding abortion.
As university employees at a public university, this means that Salsbury, as well as all university faculty and staff, are subject to the gag rule inside the act.
The university claims the intention was not to establish new university policy, but to guide faculty regarding the new laws, as a clarification memo sent out by President Scott Green said.
However, many did not take it that way, with UI making national headlines and receiving backlash from community members. President Joe Biden condemned the university for actions he called “extreme and backward.”
Since the release of the memo, several institutions and speakers have spoken against the memo and the Idaho law, including speakers for the Women’s Center, members of the ASUI and protesters at the beginning of October.
Speaking out against the memo, as well as the Idaho law, is Luigi Boschetti, the president of the UI faculty union. Boschetti pointed out in his speech at the protest that this act is not out of the norm for Idaho policy.
“This is not the exception,” Boschetti said.
Boschetti said this in reference to a bill that the legislature attempted to pass last year regarding the censorship of librarians. Boschetti said that these attempts at censorship are very usual for “authoritarian regimes,” something he called the Idaho Republican Party several times.
“This is an extremely authoritarian move,” Boschetti said. “Where not only do they pass a law with extreme criminalization of abortion, but also to shut down any possible debate.”
Many people are calling for the repeal of the act as a violation of civil liberties. Currently, the ACLU of Idaho is looking to speak with students, faculty and staff affected by the ban within their secure intake line in order to build a case against it. Updates on the case can be found on its website.
Despite the difficulty of the situation, Salsbury is still committed to the women of UI.
“We’re still here,” Salsbury said. “We’re still going to do everything we possibly can to support students within the confines of the law.”
Abigail Spencer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ABairdSpencer
Barbara
Abigail, thank you for a well-written, informative and unbiased article.