The Tennessee legislature introduced a bill on Monday that targets adults who take minors out of the state to have an abortion.
The bill says that an adult who “recruits, harbors, or transports a pregnant unemancipated minor within this state for the purpose of” aiding them in getting access to actions that constitute “criminal abortion” under Tennessee law “commits the offense of abortion trafficking of a minor,” despite where the action occurs.
It also notes that it would not be a viable “defense to a prosecution” if the minor consented to actions.
These are not criminal masterminds we are talking about. These will be people who have never even considered violating the law; even as they activly violate it.
The police will get a tip that a pregnant girl is no longer pregnant. The prosecutor will have probable cause to subpeona her phone records. Her phone records will show a terrified teanager admitting to the crime.
Or they will subpoena the parent/trafficker’s records. Which will show them contacting an abortion provider ahead of the trip. Probably also google searches about how to get an abortion.
If a jury “believes” their claim that they just dropped by an abortion clinic during their totally unrelated trip, it will almost always be a case of jury nullification. If these cases are actually prosecuted, I am sure we will see cases of jury nullification; but you really do not want to be relying on that.
Not being pregnant isn’t a crime, so not seeing a case for probably cause. Especially not sufficient enough to pull any useful phone records, which is getting less and less possible anyway as more people move toward encrypted chats.
I suppose if the tip is specific enough to include details on the transporter, it could happen. Seems incredibly unlikely though.
Feel free to ping me and point out I’m wrong if it ever happens. Until then, still seems like nothing but political hot air to me.
These states have already been investigating and in some cases prosecuting miscarriages. If these laws pass it’s going to happen.