Idaho can enforce a first-of-its-kind "abortion trafficking" law against those who harbor or transport a minor to get an abortion out of state without parental consent, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday.

A panel of federal judges on Monday largely upheld Idaho’s “abortion trafficking” law, a measure passed in the 2023 legislative session meant to punish an adult who helps a minor seek an abortion in another state or obtain medication that will induce an abortion.

One of the judges, Carlos T. Bea, a George W. Bush appointee, dissented from the ruling, arguing that because the primary enforcement of the law is by county prosecutors and not the attorney general, the plaintiffs had “sued the wrong person.”

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has allowed Idaho's abortion trafficking law to be enforced. The plaintiffs in the case, which includes Northwest Abortion Access Fund and Indigenous Idaho Alliance,