Breaking: Travel bans proposed in Tennessee & Oklahoma
States would send aunts & grandmas to prison as "traffickers" for helping teens
We knew it was never going to stop with Idaho.
Tennessee Republican Rep. Jason Zachary introduced a travel ban yesterday—legislation that would make it a Class C felony to take a minor out-of-state for abortion care. That means a friend, aunt or grandmother who helps a teenager get an abortion could be sent to prison for 15 years. In Oklahoma, state Sen. Nathan Dahm introduced a similar bill that would punish anyone who helps a teen obtain care with up to 5 years in prison.
I want to be clear: When I say these laws target anyone who “helps” a teen get an abortion, I don’t just mean someone who physically takes them out of the state. You could be arrested for lending a teenager gas money, or texting them the url of an out-of-state clinic. That’s because both Tennessee’s HB1895 and Oklahoma’s SB1778 deliberately define ‘abortion trafficking’ as broadly as possible. Anyone who “recruits, harbors, or transports” a minor for the purpose of getting an abortion is guilty of ‘trafficking’.
In fact, that’s the exact issue at the center of the legal fight over Idaho’s ‘abortion trafficking’ law—which is currently blocked because a judge ruled it violated the First Amendment. An amicus brief filed by 20 Attorneys General in opposition to Idaho’s travel ban offered this example:
“A teenage girl in Moscow, Idaho, calls her aunt in Pullman, Washington, less than ten miles away, to say she is pregnant and feels she cannot safely tell her parents. If the aunt tells her niece about a clinic in Pullman that offers abortion care and counseling, is that ‘recruitment’? What if the aunt texts her niece a web link to the clinic’s informational material? Or if the niece books an appointment and the clinic’s office manager emails her a preappointment information sheet? If the aunt pays for her niece’s bus ticket to Pullman, is that ‘transportation’—or, as the Idaho law would have it, ‘trafficking’?”
This broad language isn’t just meant to scare off a teen’s friends and family from helping her; it’s about targeting abortion funds. Whether you’re talking about Idaho’s travel ban, the ordinances being passed in Texas counties, or the new proposed legislation in Tennessee and Oklahoma—all of these laws are about stopping funds from helping people, and making it possible to prosecute them.
As I wrote in my review of criminalization in 2023, they’re going after the helpers.
Somehow, it gets worse: The travel ban proposed in Tennessee would also allow people to take civil action against anyone who breaks the law. And Elisabeth Smith, Director of State Policy & Advocacy for the Center for Reproductive Rights, tells me, “This language could be used to prosecute parents when custody is in question or allow one parent to sue the parent who helps a young person access abortion care.”
You heard right. Let’s say a Tennessee mom takes her daughter out-of-state for an abortion, or gets her abortion medication. But her ex-husband—who isn’t an involved parent—decides he’s pissed off, or just wants to torture his ex. He can sue her for helping their daughter get care.
It’s just another way that anti-abortion laws enable abusers. Remember, we saw this in Texas when a man brought a civil case against his ex-wife’s friends for helping her obtain abortion medication.
And if you want to know how desperate Republicans are to punish people over abortion, the proposed law in Oklahoma declares itself an emergency “necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health or safety,” and therefore would go into effect immediately after its passage.
In October, I wrote about just how bizarre and horrifying this all is—to watch laws being passed that prevent people from leaving their states, or punish beloved family members and friends for helping someone get the care they need. Just as bad is seeing the way these laws are passed without shock or sustained outrage. As if this is all normal. It’s very much not.
So please, share this one widely, and remind the people in your life that it doesn’t have to be this way. It can’t be.
When the wall fell and East Germans were able to check the files of the secret police, the Stasi, they could see how their neighbours and family members betrayed them. It totally shattered relationships. Aside from the direct danger to women, the effects of this legislation is to destroy community ties and trust.
The GOP: Crossing state lines to acquire an abortion is a Punishable Offense.
Also the GOP: Crossing state lines to acquire a gun is Protected under the Second Amendment.