Uproar over U of Idaho memo shows how right’s attack on abortion is also attack on free speech

Faculty at the University of Idaho are in an uproar over a legal memo issued this week informing the state-funded college’s employees that any discussions of abortion-related matters in their classrooms not deemed “neutral” could result in a felony prosecution under the state’s new law prohibiting public funds from being used to “procure, counsel in favor, refer to or perform an abortion.”

“I’m just pissed off. I’m just appalled,” sociology professor Deborah Thorne said at a meeting this week between faculty members and the university’s general counsel, Kent Nelson. The Faculty Senate issued a unanimous statement saying: “This is an assault on our academic freedom.”