Immigrant abortion ruling a mixed bag

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday in a case about a pregnant immigrant teen who obtained an abortion with the help of the ACLU, siding with the Trump administration and wiping away a lower court decision for the teen but rejecting a suggestion her lawyers should be disciplined.

The decision is about the teen’s individual case and doesn’t affect an ongoing class-action case about the ability of immigrant teens in government custody to obtain abortions.

The justices ruled in an unsigned opinion that vacating a lower court decision in favor of the teen, who had been in government custody after entering the country illegally, was the proper course because the case became moot after she obtained an abortion.

The government had complained the American Civil Liberties Union didn’t give an alert that the teen’s abortion would happen earlier than expected.