Idaho woman, son face kidnapping charges in teenage abortion case

Authorities charged an Idaho woman and her 18-year-old son with second-degree kidnapping for allegedly taking the son’s 15-year-old girlfriend across state lines to get an abortion. Police say the teenage girl’s mother told them her daughter had been sexually assaulted and taken to Oregon for an abortion earlier this year. The girl’s mother had not been told about the pregnancy. The girl said the relationship was consensual and she was happy about the pregnancy, according to court documents. She said her boyfriend and his mother threatened to kick her out of their house if she told her parents about the pregnancy. The mother insisted that the abortion was a mutual decision by her son and the girl, according to court documents. The mother is also facing drug charges, while the son received additional charges of rape and creating sexually explicit material of a minor.

Are the pair charged under the state’s abortion tourism law? The mother and son were charged without Idaho’s recently enacted abortion trafficking law, which makes it illegal to help a minor receive an abortion across state lines without her parents’ consent. The law is being challenged in court. 

Dig deeper: Read Addie Offereins and Leah Savas’ report on a Texas town implementing laws against abortion tourism.