Decision tossed that allowed immigrant teen’s abortion

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a lower court’s decision that allowed an undocumented immigrant teenager to obtain an abortion over the protests of the Trump administration.

The action, which came in an unsigned opinion without noted dissents, wipes out the lower court’s ruling as precedent.

But attorneys for the teen said it does not immediately affect a court order in place that temporarily allows undocumented girls in federal custody to get abortions as a broader challenge to administration policy makes its way through the courts.

The case centers on a Central American teenager, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, who was being held in a government-funded shelter last fall. She had been seeking an abortion since learning, shortly after she crossed the border, that she was pregnant. But the administration said it would not “facilitate” abortions for undocumented minors in federal custody.

The five-page order issued Monday directs the lower courts to dismiss as moot the teen’s individual claim seeking access to abortion services. The girl was able to terminate her pregnancy before the high court got involved. She has since turned 18 and is no longer in federal custody.

The short, unsigned opinion obscured what was likely a divisive behind-the-scenes disagreement. The court began to consider the Trump administration’s request in January, and it was continually rescheduled for the justices’ private conferences. In the end, the justices put aside what might have been dueling opinions for a more anodyne statement that drew no noted dissents.

The girl’s attorney, Brigitte Amiri of the American Civil Liberties Union, described the Monday ruling as narrow. She said it does not affect the broader challenge to the government’s policy for pregnant teens in federal immigration custody that is pending in district court in Washington.

Moreover, a nationwide order issued by the judge in that case preventing the government from blocking access to abortion services remains in effect. The administration has appealed the injunction.

“Now we can focus on going forward and continue to do everything we can to strike the policy down once and for all,” Amiri said.

Administration officials said in a statement Monday that the high court has repeatedly made clear “the federal government is not obligated to help a minor get an abortion and may choose policies favoring life over abortion.”

“We look forward to continuing to press the government’s interest in the sanctity of life,” officials from the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services said in a joint statement.

In its order, the Supreme Court did not agree with a separate request by the Trump administration asking that ACLU lawyers who represented the girl be disciplined for their actions in the case.

Justice Department lawyers accused the ACLU of reneging on a deal that would have given them time to appeal a ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that allowed the abortion. The girl terminated her pregnancy before government lawyers filed the appeal. That rendered their request moot and opened the administration to criticism from antiabortion groups, which accused the Justice Department of moving too slowly.

The court said Monday that it takes “seriously” allegations that lawyers tried to keep justices from hearing the case but also that lawyers have ethical obligations to serve their clients. In the end, it said, it did not need to determine who was at fault to decide to throw out the lower court’s decision.

“Not all communication breakdowns constitute misconduct,” the court said.

That Solicitor General Noel Francisco went to the court with the complaint says much about the political salience of the abortion issue and the changed nature of the administration’s position.

While the Obama administration supported abortion rights, President Donald Trump has appointed antiabortion officials to top positions at the Justice Department and HHS, as well as other federal departments and agencies.

The Trump administration has enacted a policy of preventing access to abortion services — even though the government is not asked to pay for the procedure — for pregnant teens held in government-funded shelters after crossing the border illegally.

Unsealed court documents show that the head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement denied access to abortion services for a 17-year-old who said she had been raped and threatened to harm herself if she could not end her pregnancy.

The office’s director, E. Scott Lloyd, denied the teen’s request over the recommendation of a senior staff member who said the office should assist the teen in getting an abortion, according to the filing.

In explaining his decision, Lloyd said in a December memo that the government office “cannot be a place of refuge while we are at the same time a place of violence.” He added, “We have to choose, and we ought to choose [to] protect life rather than to destroy it.”

The girl dubbed Jane Doe went to some lengths to get her abortion, in a case that took a rapid but circuitous route through the courts.