Idaho abortion rights activist allegedly assaulted by police while writing on sidewalk with chalk

---

A pro-abortion rights group accused Idaho State Police of assaulting a demonstrator who wrote with chalk on a sidewalk in front of the Idaho State Capitol building. The accusation came amid massive protests after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right for Americans to have an abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Key Players

Idaho Abortion Rights, a community-based abortion rights group, has organized pro-abortion protests in Idaho.

The Idaho State Police (ISP) is the statewide law enforcement agency for Idaho.

Further Details

In May 2022, a leaked draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case then pending before the U.S.Supreme Court, indicated that abortion rights were likely to be overturned. 

At the time, Idaho was one of 13 states that had trigger laws in place to enforce a ban on abortion if the court were ever to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that established the constitutional right to abortion, The New York Times reported. Idaho’s trigger law, passed in 2020, made providing an abortion punishable by up to five years in prison. Exemptions would be allowed if an abortion were performed to prevent a pregnant woman from dying, or in cases of rape or incest. 

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn Roe v. Wade,  prompting immediate protests across the country. Four days later, Idaho Abortion Rights demonstrated against abortion restrictions in front of the Idaho State Capitol. A female protester arrived early and chalked the sidewalk with pro-abortion messages. 

According to an Instagram post, an ISP officer approached the woman and said she could not chalk the sidewalk. When the woman continued to chalk, the officer grabbed her arm and ripped her shirt. 

“She arrived at the Capitol and was alone,” the post reads. “She began chalking and the ISP said she couldn’t chalk on the sidewalk. She was not on the Capitol steps. She asked him what law. He didn’t provide a law and when she began chalking again the ISP officer ripped her shirt and bruised her arm.”

Idaho law states that “It is not an offense under this section for a person to engage in expressive conduct on the public sidewalks using non-permanent, non-toxic chalk in a manner that does not obstruct or interfere with the use of the sidewalks.”

Images of the Instagram post show extensive bruising on the woman’s arm. She reportedly went to the hospital and filed a report against the state police.

Outcome 

Idaho State Police issues statement referencing Idaho Administrative Code

In a statement issued to the Idaho Statesman, Tecia Ferguson, a public information officer with the state police, wrote that officers had followed administrative code under the Idaho Administrative Procedures Act (IDAPA), which states, “Users shall not use any material to mark on any surface of the state facilities including chalk, paint, pens, ink, or dye.”

“ISP Troopers did not arrest or cite anyone yesterday for using sidewalk chalk on the capitol mall complex. ISP Troopers did work to educate several individuals about the IDAPA Rules that apply at the capitol mall complex,” Ferguson wrote.   

According to the Statesman, Paul Navarro, a capitol facilities manager, said the sidewalks and nearby buildings of the statehouse can be a “gray area” in terms of capitol jurisdiction.

Co-founder of Idaho Abortion Rights condemns ambiguity of Idaho state laws, emphasizes First Ammendment rights

Idaho Abortion Rights co-founder Kimra Luna told the Statesman that the woman should not have been assaulted.

“We don’t know what piece of sidewalk we’re allowed to write on,” Luna said. “It doesn’t even matter. Even if she was writing right on the freaking Capitol with chalk, she should not be assaulted.”

Luna further accused law enforcement of ongoing Free Speech violations. 

“The police, even when we’re doing things completely peaceful, not causing any harm, they’re still harming us,” Luna said. “And I think that that is starting to become blatantly clear that they do not want us to practice our First Amendment rights of freedom of speech.”

Idaho abortion ban has yet to take effect

According to the Idaho Capital Sun, the office of Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden expected that the law would go into effect before the end of the year.  

On Aug. 2, 2022 the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit, asserting that the Idaho trigger law, despite its exemptions, violates the federal  Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTLA), which requires medical care when a pregnant person’s life or health is at stake. 

Federal Judge blocks part of abortion law from taking effect

The Idaho trigger law was scheduled to take effect on Aug. 25. 

But one day prior, U.S. District Judge Judge B. Lynn Winmill, nominated by former President Bill Clinton, issued a preliminary injunction, ruling that the law violated the EMTLA. While a strict abortion law could still remain, Winmill wrote that doctors could not be punished for performing abortions to protect the heath of a pregnant patient, The Washington Post reported.  

“It’s not about the bygone constitutional right to an abortion,” Winmill wrote. “This Court is not grappling with that larger, more profound question. Rather, the Court is called upon to address a far more modest issue — whether Idaho’s criminal abortion statute conflicts with a small but important corner of federal legislation. It does.”

“As the District Court ruled, a state law that attempts to prevent a hospital from fulfilling its obligations under EMTALA violates federal law and the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution,” Attorney General Merrick Garland stated. “The Department of Justice will continue to use every tool at its disposal to defend the reproductive rights protected by federal law.”