Jennie Linn McCormack of Idaho is suing a local prosecutor for trying to convict her for using the morning-after pill to terminate her pregnancy.

 

McCormack, a single mother of three children, ended her pregnancy after she purchased FDA-approved RU-486 over the Internet. She was later arrested for violating Idaho’s law that forbids self-administered abortions, an offense punishable with five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

 

The criminal charges were dismissed by a local judge at the preliminary hearing on August 24.

 

McCormack then filed a lawsuit against Bannock County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Hiedeman, in which she challenges the constitutionality of Idaho’s anti-abortion law. In particular, the lawsuit emphasizes that Idaho law discriminates against low-income and rural residents of southeast Idaho, who have to travel 165 miles to Salt Lake City to obtain a legal abortion from a doctor.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Woman Who Took Morning-After Pill Sues Prosecutor Who Put Her in Jail (by Philip Janquart, Courthouse News Service)

Jennie Linn McCormack v. Mark Hiedeman (U.S. District Court, Idaho) (pdf)