Idaho professors sued over abortion discussions in class. Here’s what a judge just ruled

BOISE – An Idaho court this week dismissed a lawsuit from college educators over the right to teach about abortion in class, primarily because Attorney General Raúl Labrador said professors who dealt with the subject in school would not be prosecuted under a 2021 anti-abortion rights law.

The Gem State drew national headlines in the fall of 2022 when the University of Idaho wrote a memo instructing professors not to promote abortion or contraception in class, and recommended limits on classroom abortion discussions, according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting. The university’s lawyers had been interpreting a law called the No Public Funds for Abortion Act.

After an Idaho teachers union as well as individual University of Idaho professors sued Labrador and other state officials in 2023, the AG sought dismissal of the lawsuit and said academic speech would not be considered in violation of the law. He said language in the statute did not “refer to the abstract teaching and scholarship of abortion conducted by university professors.”

“Candidly, the Court has concerns about the statute. It is not a beacon of clarity and may invite further litigation down the road,” District Judge David Nye wrote in the ruling in Idaho Federation of Teachers v. Labrador. “Without a live case or controversy to adjudicate, the Court must stay in its lane and dismiss this suit.”

Nye ruled on several motions: He denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, denied a defendant’s motion to dismiss and granted Labrador’s motion to dismiss, while saying the court is “not entirely convinced” that Labrador’s interpretation of the statute is accurate.

It’s “vital” for Idaho’s universities to have “vibrant debate” on campus without government interference, ACLU of Idaho Legal Director Paul Carlos Southwick said in a statement about the ruling.

“For university employees and students, the NPFAA was a minefield that made reasoned discussion impossible,” Idaho Federation of Teachers President Martin Orr said. “Our educators and students deserved better and we are encouraged that they may now resume robust discussion about this important topic.”

The No Public Funds for Abortion Act’s stated goal when passed in 2021 was to ensure “taxpayer dollars do not support the abortion industry by prohibiting the expenditure of taxpayer dollars to abortion providers,” according to legislative documents.

A year later, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and Idaho made nearly all abortions illegal.

Speech around abortion has become a hot topic. A Labrador legal opinion said doctors who referred a woman across state lines for an abortion would have their license suspended.

Last summer, a federal district court blocked enforcement of that, saying the state can’t seek criminal penalties against medical providers for such referrals, according to previous Statesman reporting.