ABOVE:
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BATTLES ACLU OVER ABORTIONS FOR ILLEGAL ALIEN TEENS
BY WARREN MASS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
In a continuing legal battle between the Trump administration and two illegal alien teenage girls represented by the ACLU, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled on December 18 that the administration couldn’t block the teens, who are in federal custody, from getting taxpayer-funded abortions. The teenagers are being held by authorities because they entered the country illegally.
Vice News reported that Chutkan initially also refused to allow the teenagers, called “Jane Poe” and “Jane Roe” in court documents, to immediately get an abortion. However, her ruling would not have taken effect for 24 hours, in order to give the Trump administration time to appeal the decision and continue the court battle, which could continue for days or even weeks.
Chutkan subsequently lifted the 24-hour stay, just hours after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represents both Poe and Roe, requested an end to it on December 19.
In court filings, reported Vice News, Poe’s lawyers said they approached the Trump administration about their request to remove the stay but hadn’t heard back as of the morning of December 19. “It’s literally a matter of every day counts,” the judge had acknowledged, according to the ACLU’s request.
Roe and Poe are currently being held by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a program of the Administration for Children and Families, an office within the Department of Health and Human Services. A sponsor has volunteered to take care of Roe, but no one has offered to sponsor Poe.
After Chutkan’s initial ruling on December 18, the Trump administration quickly filed a notice of appeal as well as a request to lengthen the stay in Roe’s case for at least two weeks. While Roe is approximately 10 weeks pregnant, the Trump administration says Poe is 22 weeks pregnant.
Lawyers for the Trump administration wrote, “The government has strong and constitutionally legitimate interests in promoting its interest in life, in refusing to facilitate abortion, and in not providing incentives for pregnant minors to illegally cross the border to obtain elective abortions while in federal custody. Those interests would be irreparably undercut if Ms. Roe was granted the relief she seeks.”
Brigitte Amiri, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement: “We are pleased that these two young women are able to finally get the care they need. But the government’s policy is still in place. These two cases show how the government continues to abuse its power by denying abortion access.”
Scott Lloyd, who assumed the position of director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) in March, had operated under a new policy put into place by the Trump administration that requires him to sign off on all major medical care. Before taking the position at ORR, Lloyd, who is an attorney, worked for the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal and charitable organization that plays a leading role in the pro-life movement.
However, the ACLU is not happy with that policy and asserted in a court document that it “grants ORR a veto power over a minor’s abortion decision, erects numerous hurdles to a minor’s ability to obtain unbiased counseling about pregnancy options and prompt pregnancy dating, regardless of whether they will ultimately decide to terminate or carry to term their pregnancy, and imposes significant hurdles.”
In another twist in these cases, reported Vice News, it was revealed during a December 19 court motion that Roe is not 17 years old, as was previously thought, but 19. Since she is legally an adult, lawyers for the administration pointed out, Roe should be in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security — not the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
A December 18 Politico report observed that since the beginning of this legal battle, government lawyers have also argued that the teens are free to return to their home countries or to seek to be released to the custody of a sponsor, but federal officials should not have to take any action to facilitate an abortion. Of course, since Roe was subsequently found to be an adult, only Poe would require a sponsor.
Politico also quoted a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, who said:
Related articles:
HHS Confirms Illegal Alien Children Will Have Access to Abortion
Planned Parenthood in 1952: “Abortion Kills Life”
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Vice News reported that Chutkan initially also refused to allow the teenagers, called “Jane Poe” and “Jane Roe” in court documents, to immediately get an abortion. However, her ruling would not have taken effect for 24 hours, in order to give the Trump administration time to appeal the decision and continue the court battle, which could continue for days or even weeks.
Chutkan subsequently lifted the 24-hour stay, just hours after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represents both Poe and Roe, requested an end to it on December 19.
In court filings, reported Vice News, Poe’s lawyers said they approached the Trump administration about their request to remove the stay but hadn’t heard back as of the morning of December 19. “It’s literally a matter of every day counts,” the judge had acknowledged, according to the ACLU’s request.
After Chutkan’s initial ruling on December 18, the Trump administration quickly filed a notice of appeal as well as a request to lengthen the stay in Roe’s case for at least two weeks. While Roe is approximately 10 weeks pregnant, the Trump administration says Poe is 22 weeks pregnant.
Lawyers for the Trump administration wrote, “The government has strong and constitutionally legitimate interests in promoting its interest in life, in refusing to facilitate abortion, and in not providing incentives for pregnant minors to illegally cross the border to obtain elective abortions while in federal custody. Those interests would be irreparably undercut if Ms. Roe was granted the relief she seeks.”
Brigitte Amiri, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement: “We are pleased that these two young women are able to finally get the care they need. But the government’s policy is still in place. These two cases show how the government continues to abuse its power by denying abortion access.”
Scott Lloyd, who assumed the position of director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) in March, had operated under a new policy put into place by the Trump administration that requires him to sign off on all major medical care. Before taking the position at ORR, Lloyd, who is an attorney, worked for the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal and charitable organization that plays a leading role in the pro-life movement.
However, the ACLU is not happy with that policy and asserted in a court document that it “grants ORR a veto power over a minor’s abortion decision, erects numerous hurdles to a minor’s ability to obtain unbiased counseling about pregnancy options and prompt pregnancy dating, regardless of whether they will ultimately decide to terminate or carry to term their pregnancy, and imposes significant hurdles.”
In another twist in these cases, reported Vice News, it was revealed during a December 19 court motion that Roe is not 17 years old, as was previously thought, but 19. Since she is legally an adult, lawyers for the administration pointed out, Roe should be in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security — not the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
A December 18 Politico report observed that since the beginning of this legal battle, government lawyers have also argued that the teens are free to return to their home countries or to seek to be released to the custody of a sponsor, but federal officials should not have to take any action to facilitate an abortion. Of course, since Roe was subsequently found to be an adult, only Poe would require a sponsor.
Politico also quoted a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, who said:
A pregnant minor who has entered the country illegally has the option to voluntarily depart to her home country or identify a suitable sponsor. HHS-funded facilities that provide temporary shelter and care for unaccompanied alien minors should not become way stations for these children to get taxpayer-facilitated abortions.
That statement makes clear that the government is not, as the ACLU asserts, continuing “to abuse its power by denying abortion access.” The Trump administration is wiling to allow minors to return home or seek sponsorship, where in either circumstance they would be able to make abortion decisions free of government interference. The administration objects only to requiring the taxpayers, many of whom object in conscience to abortion, to pay for these procedures.HHS Confirms Illegal Alien Children Will Have Access to Abortion
Planned Parenthood in 1952: “Abortion Kills Life”
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Judge rules two immigrant teens can get abortions
A federal judge has ordered President Donald Trump's administration to allow two pregnant immigrant teenagers in US custody to obtain abortions.US District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled on Monday that the Republican administration can't prevent the 17-year-old girls from exercising their right to an abortion.Both girls, who are 10 and 22 weeks pregnant, arrived in the country as unaccompanied minors and are being held in federal shelters, though it is not known precisely where.The American Civil Liberties Union went to court on behalf of the two girls, as it did in the case of a third 17-year-old girl who was able to obtain an abortion in October following a high-profile court fight.The judge's temporary restraining order marked the latest chapter in a legal dispute with the Trump administration over whether minors who are illegal immigrants have the right to seek an abortion during their detention.Earlier this year, the office in the Health and Human Services Department that oversees the shelters prohibited the two girls from taking steps to facilitate an abortion without its direct approval.One teen is about 10 weeks pregnant, and the other is now about 22 weeks pregnant, Chutkan said. She 'is quickly approaching the limit for abortion in the state where she is being detained,' the ACLU argued in its lawsuit.Lawyers for the government made clear at a court hearing earlier Monday that the administration would not allow her to have an abortion, Chutkan said in her ruling.The administration appealed the judge's ruling as it applied to the teenager who is 10 weeks along. It did not seek to stop the teenager who is about 22 weeks pregnant from having an abortion.Late Monday, an appeals court in Washington said the teenager who is 10 weeks along in her pregnancy must wait at least another day to have an abortion so that the court has more time to consider the case.Scott Lloyd, the head of the HHS office that oversees the shelters, said in an email that facilities under HHS 'should not be supporting abortion services pre or post-release,' but rather 'life-affirming options counseling.'Chutkan said the HHS office continues to claim 'ultimate authority to unilaterally veto the reproductive choices of the unaccompanied minors in its custody.'The federal appeals court in Washington ruled for the third teenager in October, and her abortion took place without the administration asking the Supreme Court to step in.That teenager is being held in Texas, where minors need either their parents' consent or a judge's approval for an abortion.The other two girls are in states where minors don't need consent, the ACLU said, but it has refused to identify the states or say where the teens are from.
