Idaho Professors Say State’s Abortion Law Throttles Free Speech

Idaho is facing a lawsuit by public university professors, alleging a state law that criminalizes the use of public funds “to promote or counsel in favor of abortion” is unconstitutional.

The No Public Funds for Abortion Act, enacted in May 2021, violates the First Amendment by banning academic speech, and is unconstitutionally vague, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Idaho.

“By enacting the NPFAA, the Idaho legislature has placed a ‘strait jacket upon the intellectual leaders’ of the state’s public universities,” the professors say, citing decades-old US Supreme Court precedent ...