UPDATE 10/19/2017: This could be on its way to the Supreme Court now, after the Trump administration appealed it to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Arguments are scheduled for 10AM Eastern Friday morning.
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A federal judge just ruled that an unaccompanied immigrant minor detained at a Texas shelter must be allowed to have an abortion, ending a battle with the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
The ACLU sought a temporary restraining order allowing Jane Doe access to an abortion. Rewire reports that she had two previously scheduled appointments that had to be cancelled because officials would not transport her to the facility. They refused to allow her to even leave the shelter.
Texas requires that a parent consent or receive a judicial waiver prior to having an abortion and Jane Doe did go to court with an attorney to request the waiver. In this case, the federal government overreached by requiring her to "visit a religiously affiliated crisis pregnancy center, or anti-choice fake clinic, to undergo counseling to continue the pregnancy." She was also forced to have a sonogram conducted by non-medical personnel against her will.
In order to avoid taking her to the abortion clinic, ORR only took her to the crisis center, not the clinic. And because they are in an area of Texas with only one abortion provider, appointments are hard to come by. She was forced to reschedule.
ORR is literally torturing her by preventing her from seeking out women's health care. ACLU even reports that ORR officials have been "asking her what she’s going to name her baby." To make matters worse, if that is even possible, Rewire further reports that she has been held at the shelter for over 6 weeks, with the goal to be (probably) to keep her past the 20 week threshold, thereby preventing her from getting an abortion.
In response to the legal filing, the Trump administration responded that “the federal government has no obligation to release an undocumented pregnant teen from a federally funded shelter in Texas to have an abortion.” So, keep her until she is forced to have a baby and then kick them both out? The Trump administration is so against "anchor babies" but they want to force this child to have one? This makes no sense?
Well, good news. A judge just ruled that Jane Doe was granted her restraining order and will be allowed to have an abortion.
It orders her to be allowed to have the abortion on October 20th or 21st and prevents ORR from threatening her or the provider or from revealing her abortion to anyone.
It's sad and pathetic that we are still battling for access to women's health care in 2017. But then again, Trump/Pence/Sessions are trying to take us back to 1950's...no rights for women, people of color, immigrants, etc.
