Two teachers’ unions along with six professors in Idaho have filed a lawsuit, challenging the constitutionality of the No Public Funds for Abortion Act (NPFAA), an Idaho law that prohibits the use of public funds to provide, promote, or counsel in favor of abortion.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, alleges that the NPFAA violates the First Amendment by censoring academic speech and the Fourteenth Amendment by incorporating overly vague and broad language. The plaintiffs assert that the NPFAA has chilled free academic exchange about abortion throughout Idaho’s public universities, prompting professors to alter their course content. The lawsuit cites a memo from the University of Idaho’s administration warning professors about potential risks and penalties associated with conduct that may be perceived to violate the law.
The complaint reads:
Abortion is a topic that implicates legal, social, political, and moral principles and values. Abortion is therefore a critical topic of study, discussion, and scholarship across numerous academic fields…the NPFAA, however, skews and suppresses academic inquiry and discussion about abortion at Idaho’s public universities…due to this speech restriction, as well as the lack of clarity about the NPFAA’s scope, many faculty members have been forced to refrain from engaging in a wide range of academic expression related to abortion. And other faculty members who have not altered their academic speech fear prosecution under the NPFAA because their teaching or scholarship continues to include viewpoints that may be construed as promoting or counseling in favor of abortion.
In spite of the Idaho Supreme Court upholding the state’s near-total ban on abortion in January 2023, parties continue to challenge the state’s rigid abortion laws. The most recent lawsuit follows a week after a federal judge struck down Idaho’s ban on out-of-state abortion referrals.
For more information, read the full report on JURIST – News.