ACLU suit reveals abortion ban for unaccompanied girls in immigration custody


The American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit on behalf of Jane Doe on Friday in Washington, D.C., challenging a previously unknown abortion ban for pregnant girls who are in immigration custody in government-funded shelters. Under the Trump administration policy, government-funded shelters cannot release minors for abortion-related services without approval from the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement. Scott Lloyd, director of the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, has said he will allow release only for "pregnancy services and life-affirming options counseling."
The ACLU's initial lawsuit, filed in June 2016 in San Francisco, challenged the Obama administration's practice of placing young immigrants in shelters run by government-funded religious organizations. While U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler said that the Office of Refugee Resettlement had "no justification" for its refusal to allow Jane Doe to receive an abortion, she also concluded that she did not have jurisdiction over the government's actions in another state, given the matter was not closely related to the ACLU's original lawsuit.
Jane Doe's lawyers claim that pregnant minors in government-funded shelters are funneled to religiously sponsored "crisis pregnancy centers" that discourage abortions and pressure minors to carry out unwanted pregnancies, thus violating girls' constitutional right to privacy "by wielding a veto power over their abortion decisions."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement released a statement Monday night claiming its "legal responsibility to decide what is in the best interests of a minor in the unaccompanied alien program and in this case, her unborn baby."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.
-
SCOTUS greenlights mass DOE firings
Speed Read The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to further shrink the Education Department
-
Cuomo announces third-party run for NYC mayor
Speed Read He will go up against progressive Democratic powerhouse Zohran Mamdani and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams
-
Secret Service 'failures' on Trump shooting
Speed Read Two new reports detail security breakdowns that led to attempts on the president's life
-
Trump set to hit Canada with 35% tariffs
Speed Read The president accused Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of failing to stop the cross-border flow of fentanyl
-
Mahmoud Khalil files $20M claim over ICE detention
Speed Read This is the 'first damages complaint' brought by an individual targeted by the Trump's administration's 'crackdown' on Gaza war protesters
-
Trump threatens Brazil with 50% tariffs
Speed Read He accused Brazil's current president of leading a 'witch hunt' against far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro
-
AI scammer fakes Rubio messages to top officials
Speed Read The unknown individual mimicked Rubio in voice and text messages sent to multiple government officials
-
SCOTUS greenlights Trump's federal firings
speed read The Trump administration can conduct mass federal firings without Congress' permission, the Supreme Court ruled