Idaho ‘Abortion Trafficking’ Update

This is what abortion criminalization looks like

Today is my birthday and I promised my husband I’d take the day off, but I had to make sure to write something about yesterday’s story. 

Since Abortion, Every Day reported that Idaho made its first ‘abortion trafficking’ arrest, the story has gone somewhat viral—opening up both good- and bad-faith conversations about how to report on abortion criminalization. Anti-abortion activists have been flooding my mentions across social media accusing me of supporting rape, while others have called the story itself into question because ‘abortion trafficking’ wasn’t listed as a charge (instead, the language of the statute was copy and pasted into a kidnapping charge). 

It’s frustrating, but somewhat expected. Part of writing about abortion—especially abortion criminalization—is writing about difficult and complicated issues and stories. There’s a reason that the people law enforcement pursue are troubled, or marginalized, or unsympathetic. They seek out these cases to create moments exactly like this one. 

The reason we know law enforcement does this is because we have years of data to back it up. Organizations like Pregnancy Justice have detailed abortion-related arrests going back decades that show the systematic way the criminal justice system targets those they believe that no one will care about or want to defend. 

You know how you get people to stay quiet about the criminalization of abortion? You prosecute cases that no one wants to write about because they’re “too messy.” 

That doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to real hurt and wrongdoing. As I wrote yesterday, it’s clear that the girl at the center of the case in Idaho was mistreated, coerced, and very much failed by the adults in her life. We can be honest about that while recognizing how abortion criminalization functions. 

Similarly, in the same way that prosecutors go after marginalized or unsympathetic defendants—they also often use charges that seem completely unrelated to abortion. Pregnancy Justice has reported on this, as has a new report from If/When/How released just this week. I’ve written about it before, as well: Those who are prosecuted are often targeted with charges like child abuse and endangerment, homicide, or unlawful practice of medicine—charges that aren’t explicitly mentioned in abortion bans.

We saw it recently in Alabama, for example, where women were charged with “chemical endangerment” for allegedly using drugs while pregnant. That’s also how Attorney General Steve Marshall planned to prosecute those who took abortion medication—by using ‘chemical endangerment’ charges. The anti-abortion movement believes that by using seemingly unrelated charges, the public won’t believe that these are abortion prosecutions. They want plausible deniability. 

And it’s already been working: When a teenager in Nebraska was arrested for self-managing her abortion, anti-choicers insisted that she wasn’t prosecuted for abortion at all because she pleaded guilty to “concealing human remains.”

They want to drown us in semantics and legal rhetoric—but we all knew that the prosecution was about abortion, and it was important that people reported it as such.

This is what abortion criminalization looks like. It’s messy and complicated by design. Republicans want us to be confused, they want us to be too afraid to talk about it, and—most of all—they want us not to use our common sense.

That way, when a case like the one I reported on yesterday comes up, people will claim it’s not an ‘abortion trafficking’ case—even as prosecutors copy and paste the ‘abortion trafficking’ language directly into their charges. As if that was a coincidence! (The truth, of course, is that this makes the charges even more nefarious: it’s a way for prosecutors to ensure they can go after people for ‘abortion trafficking’ even if the law ends up blocked.)

One of the reasons I’m so grateful to do this work—and one of the reasons I think Abortion, Every Day is special—is that covering this issue relentlessly gives you a different kind of insight into stories like this. And what I’ve learned over the last year—and from listening to the activists dedicated to working on abortion criminalization—is that it’s our responsibility to see beyond the obvious. 

We have to point out the context and deeper meaning no matter how complicated it is. 

Because here’s the thing: We’re going to keep seeing cases like this one. They’re going to be just as messy, the people involved will be just as imperfect, and the charges are going to be just as carefully chosen. Anyone who cares about abortion rights must be prepared for all of that. 

We have to talk about abortion criminalization without making the conversation about the worthiness of the people charged. The anti-abortion movement is desperate to ensure that’s the only thing people see. 

We have to do work that goes beyond trusting what law enforcement reports, or what a state government tells us. I’m reminded of when The Washington Post called the story of a 10-year old rape victim in Ohio into question because it hadn’t been verified by a police officer or government official—as if, in a state where abortion is criminalized, such officials were ‘objective’! It’s our job not to take their word for it.

All of which is to say: The case out of Idaho is difficult, distressing, and tragic top to bottom. There’s no getting around that. There’s a real girl, a young person, who was hurt. There’s real suffering involved in every single one of these laws and every single one of these arrests. These aren’t stories—they’re people’s lives. 

But if we’re not willing to dig deeper, who will? If we’re not ready to use the expertise of reproductive rights and justice activists who have been explaining how criminalization works for decades, what happens to the way that abortion stories are told? If we’re not willing to use our common sense to piece together what Republicans are actually doing, what chance do we have of fighting back? 

On that note, I will take my husband’s advice and go enjoy my birthday. But before you go, consider donating to an abortion fund in Idaho today.