Teenage immigrant in federal custody has abortion

Central American girl, 17, criticizes U.S. for forcing legal challenge.

A teenage immigrant at the center of a legal fight over her choice to have an abortion was temporarily released from federal custody under a court order and had the procedure Wednesday morning, her lawyers announced.

Identified in court documents as Jane Doe, the Central American teenager also issued a statement through her lawyers that criticized federal officials for putting her through a monthlong legal fight to get the abortion, which was paid for with private money.

“They made me see a doctor that tried to convince me not to abort and to look at sonograms,” the 17-year-old said. “People I don’t even know are trying to make me change my mind. I made my decision and that is between me and God. Through all of this, I have never changed my mind.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he was profoundly disappointed that the Trump administration failed to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to step in, allowing the abortion to take place without challenge.

“Today’s loss of innocent human life is tragic, and it may have been avoidable. The ruling that paved the way for the abortion violated long-standing Supreme Court precedent on the rights of an unlawfully present person,” Paxton said. “Life and the Constitution are sacred. We lost some of both today.”

In her statement, Doe said she traveled to the United States in hopes of becoming a nurse and working with elderly patients, adding that she didn’t learn she was pregnant until a medical exam after she was apprehended in early September for being in the United States without autho-