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Abortion
Mom and son charged with kidnapping for allegedly taking minor for abortion outside Idaho
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A mother and son in Pocatello, Idaho, have been charged with second-degree kidnapping for allegedly transporting the son’s 15-year-old girlfriend to Oregon to get an abortion without allowing her to tell her parents.
Rachael Swainston, 42, and her son Kadyn Swainston, 18, were charged under a kidnapping law that bans taking a child under 16 and concealing the child from a parent or guardian, the Idaho State Journal reports. The Associated Press, the Guardian and the Bend Bulletin also have coverage.
Kadyn Swainston was also charged with rape after acknowledging he had sex with the girl and got her pregnant around the time he turned 18, the articles report. The minor had been living at the Swainstons’ home; her mother thought she was staying with her father.
Rachael Swainston told police the girl and her son had mutually agreed on the abortion. “In this case, the child wanted to contact her parents regarding the situation before leaving the state, and the Swainstons prevented her from doing that,” Bannock County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Erin Tognetti told the Idaho State Journal.
Kadyn Swainston also faces charges of producing child sexually exploitative material based on evidence found on the girl’s cellphone. And Rachael Swainston was also charged with felony methamphetamine trafficking based on evidence found during a search.
Idaho generally bans abortion while Oregon permits minors to get abortions without parental consent. Idaho also recently passed an abortion-trafficking law that makes it illegal to help minors get an abortion without parental consent. But the law is being challenged in court and it was not used in the case against the Swainstons, according to AP.
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