Faculty at the University of Idaho in the United States are advised through email not to provide students with any kind of birth control, including condoms. They have also been cautioned not to bring up abortion in various settings. Those who are found in violation risk losing their jobs.
According to the rules, faculty members must only provide condoms in order to “assist in preventing the spread of STDs, not for purposes of birth control.” The large list of prohibited behaviors was to be avoided “at all times that university workers are carrying out their duties,” according to faculty members.
They are not allowed to advertise or offer abortion services and birth control
They are not allowed to, among other things, “advertise or offer abortion services and birth control,” “provide or perform an abortion,” “provide facilities for an abortion or for training to provide or perform an abortion,” “dispense drugs classified as emergency contraception by the FDA,” except in “the case of rape,” per state law, or “refer for it,” according to Jezebel.
Abortion in Idaho is now a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Moreover, the act of “intentionally [killing] an unborn human person” is legally forbidden in the state.
In the email, it is stated that professors have been given the freedom to “direct students to sources of information outside the university” and “have classroom discussions on topics related to abortion or contraception limited to discussions and topics relevant to the class subject and instructor neutrality.”
This comes as a ripple effect of the downfall of the Roe v. Wade decision
Republicans are currently working to pass a bill in South Carolina’s senate that would make it illegal to even discuss self-managed abortion with medical professionals.
One of the numerous repercussions of the overturning of the Roe v. Wade judgment in the United States has been the difficulty of discussing abortion and contraception openly.