We find ourselves having to adapt Orwell a lot these days. If employees of the University of Idaho want a picture of the future, for instance, they may as well imagine a memo from the university’s Office of General Counsel, stamping into their faces forever. The letter, sent late Friday afternoon so it would inform employees but maybe miss the evening news, advises faculty and staff about the brave new world they face under Idaho’s new near-total ban on abortion from the moment of fertilization. Wrong novel? Shut up and obey, no soma for you.
The executive summary gets right to the nitty in explaining that while on the job, university employees and the funds or facilities the work with, are absolutely prohibited from any of the following:
• Promoting abortion;
• Providing or performing an abortion;
• Counseling in favor of abortion;
• Referring for abortion;
• Providing facilities for an abortion or for training to provide or perform an abortion;
• Dispensing drugs classified as emergency contraception by the FDA, except in the case of rape;
• Contracting with abortion providers; and
• Advertising or promoting services for abortion or for the prevention of conception.
(That’s our bold right there!)
Getting an abortion oneself during class or office hours is right out, too.
Among the penalties employees might face — presumably imposed by the state — the letter lists misdemeanor or felony criminal conviction, with prison time and fines; “mandatory loss of state employment”; and being permanently barred from future state employment. First Amendment? Sure, whenever you’re not on the job. Maybe.
Now, don’t you go calling this a gag order, because the memo does note that, when absolutely necessary, it may be okay to tell students where they can find “sources of information outside the university” (presumably as long as you don’t suggest they act on any such research). Even there, you’ll want to be careful: It’s all right to direct students to “private groups or agencies of another state, where students can receive a discussion of all aspects of the topic and be presented with all alternatives legally available to them.” Even then, you’ll need to simply say such resources exist and keep saying “all aspects” as loudly as possible. Don’t you dare wink or take a sarcastic tone, you.
Classroom discussions of abortion will still be allowed, as long as they’re “approached carefully.” The guidance insists that academic freedom is still a thing, but warns readers not to push their luck. “Academic freedom is not a defense to violation of law,” so you’d better keep your nose clean. Any discussion of abortion-related topics “should be limited to discussions and topics relevant to the class subject,” and instructors have to avoid saying anything that might be interpreted as “promoting abortion, counseling in favor of abortion and referring for abortion.”
Instructors must remain strictly neutral in any classroom discussion of abortion, and if they stray into any of the prohibited areas, they could be open to prosecution. Honestly, do you really have to cover the topic at all? Like a Women’s Studies survey could simply say the best thing about being a woman is being able to bring forth new life, and leave it at that. If a literature class is covering The Handmaid’s Tale, you might skip past the bits where the corpses of abortion providers are hanging in public, or at least give students the chance to say the leaders of the Republic of Gilead had their own very good reasons. Have you considered sticking to nicer books?
As for birth control, the letter cites a 1972 Idaho law to explain it’s a felony for state employees to offer any “medicine or means for producing or facilitating a miscarriage or abortion, or for the prevention of conception.” But there’s also an exception for licensed physicians or healthcare providers to prescribe birth control. The letter notes that law “is not a model of clarity,” so to be on the safe side, the letter says that, since violations are a felony, the university itself shouldn’t offer birth control.
Instead, as the Idaho Capital Sun explains, the upshot is that
Standard birth control prescriptions can still be dispensed by workers at student health facilities, according to the memo, which are administered by Moscow Family Health and not the university.
Also too, in a line that is being quoted in every single article on the letter, we’re advised that the university can continue to “provide condoms for the purpose of helping prevent the spread of STDs but not for purposes of birth control.” That should make the public health pamphlets interesting.
Not surprisingly, the guidelines have made a few jaws drop, including at the White House, where Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a statement on Twitter calling students’ inability to access contraception on campus just one result of Idaho’s “extreme and backwards” laws. She added,
The situation in Idaho speaks to the unacceptable consequences of extreme abortion bans. The overwhelming majority of Americans believe in the right to birth control, as well as the right to abortion, without government interference.
Also too, Rebecca Gibron, the CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, issued a statement making clear what everyone knew all along:
We always knew extremists wouldn’t stop at banning abortion; they’d target birth control next. The University of Idaho’s announcement is the canary in the coal mine, an early sign of the larger, coordinated effort to attack birth control access.
These attacks on birth control are not theoretical. They are already happening. And the University of Idaho’s new policy is just the latest example of extremists and draconian laws threatening to strip us of all control over their reproductive health care.
Here’s the full letter:
We’ll keep you up to date on how this plays out, assuming that Idaho allows internet communication with the rest of the country.
[University of Idaho letter at Scribd / Idaho Capital Sun / Idaho Statesman]
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