Court: Unauthorized teen can get abortion
HOUSTON — She was already nine weeks into her first trimester by the time she learned she was pregnant. And by then, she was already in federal custody at the border in south Texas, one of the multitude of unaccompanied minors who are caught trying to enter the United States without their parents or relatives. She was just 17 years old.
On Tuesday, a federal appeals court in Washington sided with the girl, sending the case back to a lower court, which immediately ordered the Trump administration to allow the girl to obtain an abortion “promptly and without delay.”
The ruling may be only one of many legal chapters to come if the Justice Department decides to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
The case has become a rare intersection of two of the most politically divisive issues in America — illegal immigration and abortion — and has shed light on the role that the federal government and its contractors have played on the border in facilitating and at times trying to block the abortions of unauthorized, unaccompanied teenagers.
The girl, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, remains in custody at a federallyfunded shelter in Brownsville, Texas.
“It is the perfect storm between abortion and immigration, and the Trump administration has shown absolute hostility to both of those issues,” said Brigitte Amiri, the lead lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Jane Doe.
Devin O’Malley, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said on Tuesday that the agency was reviewing the court’s order.
Throughout the case and a series of court rulings and reversals, the clock has been ticking: Jane Doe is 15 weeks pregnant.
Texas prohibits abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, unless a medical emergency exists. That fast pace only accelerated after the Washington court’s decision Tuesday.
Her lawyers were attempting to get Jane Doe seen on Wednesday by an abortion provider for state-mandated counseling that must be given by the same doctor who will perform the procedure. They said she could undergo an abortion as early as Wednesday.
Jane Doe’s lawyers say federal officials had been effectively “holding her hostage” — preventing her from receiving an abortion and to undergo counseling at a religiously affiliated “crisis pregnancy center” that urged her to continue the pregnancy. Under Texas law, a minor who wants to end her pregnancy must either obtain her parents’ permission or receive permission from a judge through a court order, in a legal process known as judicial bypass. But Jane Doe and her lawyers say federal officials violated that order by telling her mother about her pregnancy and plans for an abortion. Jane Doe has told her lawyers that she did not want her parents to know, because they beat an older sister who told them she was pregnant with firewood so she would have a miscarriage.
Abortion is banned in Jane Doe’s home country in Central America. Her native country has not been identified by officials or in court documents.
Lawyers for the Justice Department have argued that the government is not lawfully bound to facilitate access to abortions.
Because Jane Doe chooses to not return to her home country, Justice Department lawyers have argued that she is bringing this ordeal upon herself.
Jane Doe “may elect voluntary departure to end her federal custody, which would eliminate the alleged ‘restriction’ or ‘obstacle’ of which she complains,” the Justice Department wrote.