USA – “Impossible to enforce”: Attempts to ban abortion travel are scare tactics, legal expert says

It's not clear if abortion travel bans are constitutional or not. For now, they are mostly used as intimidation

By NICOLE KARLIS
JANUARY 30, 2024

Last week, a Tennessee Republican lawmaker proposed legislation that could imprison any adult who "recruits, harbors or transports" a pregnant minor to get out-of-state abortion care. Parents and legal guardians would be exempt, but any other adult helping a minor — say an aunt or friend or abortion care provider — despite receiving the minor’s permission, would be subject to the penalty of a Class C felony which is three to 15 years in jail.

In a press statement, Ashley Coffield in the release, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi said such a measure would have a “chilling effect” on trusted adults and helpers who assist minors in accessing abortion care. It could be especially harmful to minors living in abusive households.

Continued: https://www.salon.com/2024/01/30/impossible-to-enforce-attempts-to-ban-abortion-travel-are-scare-tactics-legal-expert-says/


USA – Where does the fight to stop travel bans for abortion stand?

Nov. 13, 2023
By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press

A federal judge and the U.S. Department of Justice this week said that states are going too far by trying to block people from helping others cross state lines for abortion.

A ruling in Idaho and the federal government taking sides in an Alabama lawsuit are far from the final word, but they could offer clues on whether an emerging area of abortion regulation may eventfully hold up in court.

Continued: https://www.gulflive.com/news/2023/11/where-does-the-fight-to-stop-travel-bans-for-abortion-stand.html


The unconstitutional plan to stop women from traveling out of state for an abortion, explained

The age of travel bans is now upon us.

By Ian Millhiser 

Sep 12, 2023

More than a year ago, anti-abortion activists appeared eager to prohibit anyone seeking an abortion in a state where it is banned from traveling to another state where it is legal. Indeed, many lawmakers appeared so eager to enact such travel bans that Justice Brett Kavanaugh, of all people, attempted to cut off these laws before they could be enacted.

“May a State bar a resident of that State from traveling to another State to obtain an abortion?” Kavanaugh asked in his concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), the decision overruling Roe v. Wade. “In my view, the answer is no,” Kavanaugh replied to his own question, “based on the constitutional right to interstate travel.” The Constitution has long been understood to allow US citizens to travel among the states.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/23868962/texas-abortion-travel-ban-unconstitutional