The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit in federal court in Washington, DC on behalf of a young woman in Texas who is currently being prevented from accessing abortion care by the Trump administration, according to a press release.
A pregnant teenager, referred to in court as Jane Doe, currently staying at a shelter for unaccompanied immigrant children in Texas, has been prevented from getting an abortion by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the release says.
The Huffington Post reports that ORR won’t say whether or not it would similarly bar an undocumented rape victim from receiving an abortion.
“Federal officials have no right to prevent this young woman from getting the care she needs. We’ve filed suit in federal court in Washington in the hope that we can put an end to these unconscionable delays,” said Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “Jane Doe is a brave and persistent young woman who has already been forced by the Trump administration to delay her abortion for weeks. The government is holding her hostage so that she will be forced to carry to term against her will.”
According to the ACLU, the Department of Health and Human Services required the teen go to a government-approved counselor at a religiously affiliated, anti-abortion “Crisis Pregnancy Center,” which urged her to continue her pregnancy. Federal officials also forced her to have a medically unnecessary sonogram against her will, the ACLU alleges.
A state judge authorized an abortion, her court-appointed attorney offered to provide transportation and she had secured private funding, but ORR prevented her from travelling to her medical visits, the ACLU says. The ACLU also alleges that the ORR informed the girl’s parents about the pregnancy against her wishes.
President Trump’s appointee to run the ORR, Scott Lloyd, has worked with anti-abortion groups and wrote a paper arguing against access to contraceptives.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told Huffington Post that ORR “is providing excellent care to this young woman and her unborn child and fulfilling our duty to the American people.”
“There is no constitutional right for a pregnant minor to illegally cross the U.S. border and get an elective abortion while in federal custody,” the statement continues. “Federal law is very clear on giving the director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement the legal responsibility to decide what is in the best interests of a minor in the unaccompanied alien children program and, in this case, her unborn baby. We cannot cede our responsibility to care for minors and their babies by releasing them to ideological advocacy groups.”
