Amber Randall – Civil Rights Reporter on 10/18/17
A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to allow a teenage illegal immigrant access to an abortion, after the administration tried to prevent her from having one.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled the government must either take the 17 year-old pregnant Texas teenager to have the abortion done or allow her guardian to take her to a clinic, Politico reported Wednesday.
In the ruling, Chutkan said she was “astounded” by the two options the government was giving the girl: Either return to her native country or carry an unwanted baby to term. The teen illegally crossed the border from Mexico last month, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“The government certainly had no problem taking her against her will to receive pregnancy counseling, which was designed to change her mind,” Chutkan said, referring to federal workers who escorted the teen to a Christian pregnancy center. “The government didn’t seem to have any problem facilitating that.”
The 15-week pregnant teenager should have a counseling session on the abortion by Thursday and the actual abortion performed either Friday or Saturday, according to the court. Texas, where the girl resides, allows abortions up until 20 weeks gestation. Department of Justice lawyers filed for an emergency stay to block the judge’s ruling.
The pregnant teen, who immigrated to the United States illegally, has tried to get an abortion for a while. The Trump administration has been working against illegal immigrant minors who are living in shelters funded by the government from getting abortion since March.
The judge warned she would hold the government in contempt of court if they didn’t adhere to the ruling. The teenager would “suffer irreparable injury in the form of, at a minimum, increased risk to her health, and perhaps the permanent inability to obtain a desired abortion to which she is legally entitled,” she said.
Send tips to [email protected].
