A group of professors from three different universities, University of Idaho, Boise State University and Idaho State University, decided to challenge the No Public Funds for Abortion Act.
They filed a lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union against Raul Labrador, Idaho’s state attorney general.
The case is being led by Scarlett Kim, an attorney through the ACLU. Kim has been working at the ACLU since 2019, but she first became an attorney in 2012. Kim first got on this case from the ACLU Idaho affiliates.
“Last fall we were receiving inquiries from professors at different universities noting the existence of this law’s impact on teaching,” Kim said.
Many believe that this case is focused on professors from the University of Idaho, but that is far from the truth. Kim informed that professors from all three universities are involved in the suit. The professors are challenging the criminal prohibition of this abortion law.
“We are on their behalf challenging the statue of No Public Funds for Abortion Act which prohibits various conduct related to abortion,” Kim said.
With the passing of the law, professors were not allowed to teach about or carry out debates about abortion. This caused a lot of professors to change how they teach their classes. They would have to completely change how their class was formatted.
This case began last June and has been developing with time. This case’s lawsuit is involved with the First Amendment rights.
“Under the first amendment, professors and educators at universities have academic freedom,” Kim said.
With this abortion law, these professors are getting that right taken away. The attorneys on this case feel that they have a good lawsuit built up and a robust First Amendment challenge.
The most difficult thing about having a lawsuit like this is “Finding professors that were willing to get involved in these types of cases,” Kim said.
Lawsuit cases are very public affairs and that can make it difficult to share your side of the story. These professors will deal with many different levels of scrutiny. The other attorneys on this case are grateful for their clients to build this case and get justice for these professors, according to Kim.
Now this case is very public, but there are many things involved that have not been yet released.
“Many things are not yet known because we are not at liberty to divulge those things,” Kim said.
The most that is known about this case is what has been filed in the briefs and what professors are involved in this case from the University of Idaho. This lawsuit will not be solved for quite a while, the case was only filed the first week of August.
Contact was made with Katie Blevins, one of the professors involved in the suit, but she declined to comment.
Grace Boehland can be reached at [email protected]
Susan Spelliscy
Great reporting. I hope there is a follow-up piece as the suit progresses.
Cite
“With the passing of the law, professors were not allowed to teach about or carry out debates about abortion.” Citation needed. The text of the law is available online. It’s only four pages, and I could find no reference to preventing university faculty from discussing abortion. If you can direct me to this prohibition in the law, I’d appreciate it. Absent a reference in the law to this prohibition, this sounds like a frivolous lawsuit, based on leftist ideology that permeates Idaho higher education.
Cindy Evans
Very informative article! Great writing and facts shown! I had no idea this lawsuit was out there or that it was limiting professors from doing their job!