This tweet has been making the rounds today:
Abortion, Every Day Exclusive:
Idaho has brought forward charges in the state's first 'abortion trafficking' case.
Law enforcement used geolocation data to place a teenager at an Oregon abortion clinic. pic.twitter.com/Ndisv2sjmB
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) October 31, 2023
This is clickbait. As Valenti acknowledges, Idaho's abortion trafficking law wasn't used in this case. It involves a boy named Kadyn Swainston who was in a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl. Here's a summary of what happened:
The relationship began when Kadyn was 17, the girl said, according to the affidavit, but continued after his 18th birthday. She was pleased to learn that she was pregnant, the girl said, but Kadyn was not. Kadyn allegedly told the girl if she did not have an abortion, their relationship would be over, and he would refuse to pay any child support.
The victim initially did not want to tell her parents about the pregnancy or abortion for fear it would get Kadyn in trouble. Eventually, she changed her mind, and when she was about to tell her parents, Rachael [Kadyn's mother] threatened to kick the girl out of the home, the girl said.
The victim said Rachael made arrangements for the abortion. Then, on May 18, Rachael rented a car and drive the victim to Oregon, where the abortion was performed on May 19.
There are plenty of weird gray areas here. Kadyn is charged with rape for continuing to have a consensual relationship with a 15-year-old girl after he turned 18. When the girl got pregnant, Kadyn pressured her to get an abortion. When the girl wanted to tell her parents about her pregnancy, Kadyn's mother threatened her and then made arrangements for the abortion.
This didn't come to light because of some crusading right-wing prosecutor. The girl's mother called the police, and the girl herself supported the investigation. So it's a case of genuine parental anger. On the other hand, you have to wonder how much her mother was even acting as her mother. The girl had been living in the Kadyn house for six months. On the other other hand, Kadyn's mother was not especially motherly herself. She had apparently been providing the girl with meth.
What a mess. And there's more, including sex tapes, meth trafficking, and harboring a fugitive. But abortion trafficking? Not in the sense we usually mean it. The charge is that Kadyn's mother pressured the girl into getting an abortion even though the girl was hesitant and the girl's mother was deliberately left in the dark. That's a bit of a different thing.
I’m sorry but if you’re not actually housing and taking care of your kid, you should lose all “parental” rights to bitch about stuff other people who are housing and raising your kid decide to do. This girl’s mother was ok with not being a mom until the moment when she could sue or file charges over something someone else did while watching her kid. That’s bullshit. The girl herself has every right to sue and file charges on her own behalf but the mom’s claims should be dismissed and she should be charged for being an absentee parent.
Please. Parents don't lose their parental rights for sending their kids to boarding school, or to a month-long summer camp, or to stay with relatives for a while, or to a training camp for a sport where the kid excels.
I hope you're not driving.
Oh FFS.
There's a huge difference between paying for a child to go to an accredited camp/boarding school and abandoning a barely 15-year-old to let her live in a drug house with her (statutory) rapist boyfriend. You can see that difference as well as I can. You're just choosing to pretend you can't for some reason.
Read again what Austin wrote:
"if you’re not actually housing and taking care of your kid, you should lose all “parental” rights to bitch about stuff other people who are housing and raising your kid decide to do."
*Your* point is reasonable. Austin's isn't.
Strictly on a societal level, the less of Kadyn's spawn, the better. With a little luck the girl will go into foster care and realize the bullet she dodged.
nothing is so horrible that it can't be used to turn a profit
someone is writing the netflix screenplay as we speak
Yikes. The lot of them need to be prevented from breeding.
According to the story they both tested positive for STDs. So, Yikes!!
And meth!
You know, Mrs. Buckman, you need a license to buy a dog, or drive a car.
Hell, you need a license to catch a fish!
But they’ll let any butt-reaming asshole be a father.
–Tod Higgins as played by Keanu Reeves in the movie Parenthood
This is messed up in all kind of ways. It certainly wasn't a healthy relationship for the girl. Of course, if they were married...
excerpt from idaho.gov site:
"(1) Where the victim is under the age of sixteen (16) years, the perpetrator is eighteen (18) years of age or older, and the victim is not lawfully married to ..."
Idaho law says you can’t be issued a marriage license if one or both parties are under 16. I assume the law you are referring to is written that way to accommodate for people who live in Idaho but were married in a state that allowed for 15 year olds to marry.
She was happy to be a 15 year old mom?
Yeah abortion please.
That's the part that caught my eye.
Read your own link much? The charge is for taking her for an abortion without notifying her parents, period. No coercion is required to prove the charge.
If we're being fussy about it? The charge is for taking her out of state without the consent of her parents, period.
You might reasonably suppose that abortion was front-of-mind for the prosecutor, but it's not required to prove the charge. A prosecutor inclined to do so could make just as much trouble if they'd crossed state lines to see a community theater production of Oklahoma.
So the details of the charge support Drum's point: This doesn't seem to involve an abortion trafficking law. And on the whole it looks like super skeevy behavior that people who support abortion rights might object to anyway. I do.
If you read all of Jessica's comments, plain the point she is trying to make, and it's fair.
They are not specifically charging under the Idaho abortion trafficking statute, which is under legal review. But they used language from that statute in a kidnapping count, deemphasizing the elements of kidnapping. They are plainly trying to set some form of legal precedent that will either support upholding the statute, or using the kidnapping statute to do the same thing.
It's legalistic, but it's valid, not clickbait.
Hillbilly trailer trash! JD Vance's childhood.
These poor folks are not really worth defending in any way. Maybe we should just ignore this nonsense.