{"id":296226,"date":"2023-08-11T12:49:51","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T17:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=296226"},"modified":"2023-08-10T13:12:08","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T18:12:08","slug":"idaho-professors-sue-promoting-abortion-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/idaho-professors-sue-promoting-abortion-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Professors sue Idaho over law they feel restricts them from promoting abortion in class"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Six college professors and two teachers’ unions are suing the state of Idaho over a pro-life law that prohibits them from promoting abortion to students in the classroom. The plaintiffs argue that the law violates their First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

Passed in 2021, the state law prevents state funds from being used to \u201cprocure, counsel in favor, refer to or perform an abortion.\u201d The plaintiffs, who include five professors at the University of Idaho and one at Boise State University, argue that under the law, they can no longer mention abortion in the classroom. They are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which says the law places<\/a> a \u201cstrait jacket upon the intellectual leaders\u201d of state universities. They say the law’s wording<\/a> is unclear and therefore allows authorities to \u201cdraw their own lines between permissible and prohibited speech.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s vital for Idaho\u2019s public universities to have autonomy in fostering vibrant debate on their campuses, free from government interference,\u201d Leo Morales, executive director for the ACLU of Idaho, said<\/a> in a news release. \u201cHowever, Idaho\u2019s abortion censorship law directly undermines that autonomy, attempting to restrict educators\u2019 free speech and stoke fear of retaliation for such speech in our state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blaine Conzatti, president of the Idaho Family Policy Center, which helped draft the law, dismissed the lawsuit as a \u201cbaseless legal challenge,\u201d noting the law’s primary intent is to keep public universities from offering the abortion pill or referring students for abortions.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir meritless lawsuit won\u2019t be successful,” Conzatti said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution do not provide carte blanche legal protections for higher education faculty to advocate or engage in criminal behavior on the taxpayer\u2019s dime,” he added<\/a>. “The \u2018No Public Funds For Abortion Act\u2019 simply does not infringe on academic speech protected by the First Amendment, including classroom discussion on the topics related to abortion.”<\/p>\n

The lawsuit asks<\/a> U.S. District Judge David C. Nye to block enforcement of the law with a preliminary injunction.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six college professors and two teachers’ unions are suing the state of Idaho over a pro-life law that prohibits them from promoting abortion to students in the classroom. The plaintiffs argue that the law violates their First Amendment rights. Passed in 2021, the state law prevents state funds from being used to \u201cprocure, counsel in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":296242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3473,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nProfessors sue Idaho over law they feel restricts them from promoting abortion in class<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"They say the law's wording is unclear and therefore allows authorities to \u201cdraw their own lines between permissible and prohibited speech.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/idaho-professors-sue-promoting-abortion-class\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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