This week, Advocates for Youth, alongside partners If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice and the National Network of Abortion Funds, submitted an amicus brief to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, in support of the plaintiffs in the case of Matsumoto, et al. v. Labrador. The brief argues that Idaho’s recently passed Abortion Travel Ban, §18-623, exacerbates existing barriers young people in the state face when attempting to seek abortion care and actively harms their health, safety, and well-being in a myriad of ways. This is especially true for youth from marginalized communities and those with multiple intersecting identities. 

Criminalizing trusted adults who support young people in need of abortion care will undoubtedly lead to social isolation and impact an adolescent’s ability to obtain safe and quality abortion services. The notion that this law somehow protects parental rights is misguided and was fabricated as part of  a grand ambition to further curtail abortion access within the state however they can. Our youth deserve better.    

Young people are experts on their own lives. They can make decisions about their own healthcare. They deserve the ability to make confidential abortion care decisions with or without the support of a trusted adult of their own choosing. The Idaho law at hand is a direct barrier to these freedoms and should not be permitted to go into effect.

Advocates hopes the Ninth Circuit affirms the judgment of the District Court.