BOISE, Idaho – After passing both houses of law, Idaho could become the first state in the country, according to Planned Parenthood, to criminally charge those who help pregnant minors abort across state lines without parental consent.

If convicted, the penalty could be two to five years in prison. under the bill passed by the Idaho Senate on Thursday.

Neighboring Oregon, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming currently allow abortions with varying levels of restrictions.

Republican State Sen. Scott Herndon supported the bill, but wanted it to go further.

“Neither parents nor guardians should be allowed protection from out-of-state trafficking of minors for abortion purposes,” Herndon said Thursday.

Supporters call the potential crime “abortion trafficking,” something that Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, a Democrat who has worked with sexual assault survivors for decades, said cheapens the experience for victims of human trafficking. forced into slavery or prostitution.

Wintrow said it also doesn’t take into account girls who were raped and made pregnant by parents who can’t safely tell police.

“It’s needless and unnecessary and it further shackles young girls who are in trouble,” Wintrow said, adding, “and then it hurts the parents’ friends, family members, etc., who are trying to help her.”

Idaho already has some of the strictest abortion laws

Idaho only allows the procedure to be performed in cases of rape, incest, or if the mother died without one.

State legislators are trying to clarify certain cases in which the life of a mother is in dangerbut that bill is still under consideration by the state Senate as of Thursday afternoon.

State law also allows family members and the father of an aborted fetus filing civil lawsuits against doctors who perform an abortion outside of those exceptions, for $20,000 per rape.

Currently, violators cannot sue, but a senate amendment The so-called “trafficking” bill would remove that part of the code and allow violators to file a civil case.

House lawmakers agreed to that change Thursday afternoon.

Opponents questioned the legality of the legislation since federal law regulates interstate travel. Republican Senator Todd Lakey rejects this, saying the crime takes place in Idaho when a person hides a trip to an abortion clinic from one of his parents.

“We have the authority, the obligation and the opportunity to establish criminal laws in Idaho and to take those acts in Idaho. That is what we are saying is a crime,” Lakey said.

The bill now goes to Governor Brad Little’s desk for consideration.

If it becomes law, Rebecca Gibron, executive director of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, told the Idaho Capital Sun this week that the organization intends to challenge him..