Idaho Governor Brad Little, a Republican, signed House Bill 242 on Wednesday. The first-of-its-kind bill will make helping a minor travel to another state for an abortion without parental consent a felony in Idaho next month. That is if the legislation survives a court challenge, which is expected.

The bill also prohibits helping a minor obtain an abortion drug, without consulting one of her parents or guardians. The “abortion trafficking” crime is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Little sent a letter to Idaho lawmakers announcing he signed the bill. He explained the legislation only addresses minor girls. “With the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe vs. Wade last summer, the right and duty to establish legal policy on abortion was finally returned to our state democratic process.”

House Bill 242 describes a new crime, that of abortion trafficking. This is when an adult helps a pregnant, unemancipated minor obtain an abortion or abortion pills “by recruiting, harboring or transporting” them without the consent of their parent or guardian. If found guilty of this crime, a person will face two to five years in prison. They can also be sued by the minor’s parent or guardian. The exception to that is a parent or guardian who rapes their child. That person isn’t allowed to sue.

The defendant has the opportunity to present evidence in court that could negate liability if “a parent or guardian of the pregnant minor consented to trafficking of the minor,” unless the abortion provider is located in another state.

Governor Little pushed back on critics like Planned Parenthood who claim he is criminalizing interstate travel for women or limit them from obtaining an abortion in another state.

In his letter, Little clarified that the new law “does not criminalize, preclude or otherwise impair interstate travel, nor does it limit an adult woman from obtaining an abortion in another state.”

“Rather, the ‘abortion trafficking’ provision in the bill seeks only to prevent unemancipated minor girls from being taken across state lines for an abortion without the knowledge and consent of her parent or guardian,” he wrote.

Planned Parenthood calls the legislation “despicable.”

Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates West, a nonprofit advocating for reproductive rights in the states of Hawaii, Idaho and Washington, took to Twitter on Wednesday to vow to challenge Idaho’s new law in court.

“Yet again, Idaho’s governor disregarded constituents and signed HB 242 into law, creating the nation’s first crime of so-called ‘abortion trafficking,'” the group tweeted. “This legislation is despicable, and we’re going to do everything in our power to stop it.”

Imagine that. The legislation is trying to protect minor girls and their parents, assuring that they are all on the same page and the parents are aware of what is happening to their daughter, and Planned Parenthood calls it “despicable.” Planned Parenthood will challenge the legislation in court.

“We’ve seen how fast harmful legislation can catch on and spread across the country. Here in Idaho, we’re going to do everything in our power to stop it,” Mistie DelliCarpini-Tolman, Idaho state director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, said in a news release.

Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, sponsored House Bill 242.

“It is something that, unfortunately, is happening, and I don’t think any of us want to see our minors not only trafficked but in this situation,” Ehardt told the House State Affairs Committee in February. “We will make sure that we have top-notch legal authority to deal with this.”

Democrats criticize the legislation for a lack of clarity in the term “parent.”

But Reps. John Gannon and Chris Mathias, both D-Boise, sent a letter Sunday to Little, urging the governor to veto the bill because of a lack of clarity around who qualifies as a parent.

The law doesn’t define “parent,” which will result in legal “chaos,” Boise family law attorney Johnathan Baldauf said in a news release distributed by the Democratic lawmakers. For example, it could allow a parent without custody of their child — perhaps because of a hostile relationship — to consent to a minor’s abortion, the news release said.

“This bill completely ignores child custody orders and parental rights when it arbitrarily allows a non-custodial parent to cut a custodial parent out of the picture,” Mathias said in the release.

The law is scheduled to take effect in 30 days.