In an email to employees of the University of Idaho, the institution’s general counsel cautioned them against running afoul of various state anti-abortion laws — in effect issuing a gag order on discussions of abortion within the institution. The guidance reflects an extreme level of caution in the face of vague and unconstitutional prohibitions and is likely to chill free speech on campus.
While “academic freedom” supports classroom discussions related to abortion, the email reads, those discussions should be limited to what is “relevant to the class subject.” University employees “must themselves remain neutral,” the email warns, adding that failure to do so could see employees face prosecution, imprisonment, and a “permanent bar from future state employment.”
Sent just after 4 p.m. on Friday with the subject line “Guidance on Abortion Laws,” the email covers everything from constraints on classroom discussions to restrictions on counseling students regarding reproductive health to advice that the school cease providing any “standard birth control.”
“In every possible aspect of Idaho law, the university has taken the most risk-averse position that just kind of shreds academic freedom.”
Lucinda Finley, a professor at the University at Buffalo School of Law focused on reproductive rights and women and the law, said the email displays an “astonishingly risk averse” attitude to the detriment of the university’s students, staff, and faculty and the very notion of academic...
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