Judge Temporarily Stops U.S. From Blocking Immigrant Teenagers’ Abortions

A federal judge in Washington issued a sweeping order Friday that temporarily prevents the government from blocking access to abortion services for pregnant minors who have been detained in federal immigration custody.

In issuing the preliminary injunction, Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of U.S. District Court barred the government from interfering with hundreds of teenagers’ access to medical appointments, counseling, abortion procedures or other care, writing that the government’s practice of doing so infringed on the teenagers’ constitutional rights.

Chutkan also allowed the case to proceed as a class action that will include four plaintiffs whose high-profile cases date to October 2017.

Since March 2017, the Office of Refugee Resettlement had instructed employees at federally funded shelters to not take “any action that facilitates an abortion without direction and approval from the director of ORR,” court documents say. The Trump administration has argued that their policies do not create an undue burden because unauthorized immigrant teenagers seeking an abortion can obtain one by finding a sponsor or voluntarily deporting themselves to their home country.

“This court does not find that either of these ‘options’ mitigates the undue burden that ORR’s policy imposes on the young women in its custody,” Chutkan wrote, calling the government’s proposal a “Hobson’s choice.”

While the Office of Refugee Resettlement and its director “are certainly entitled to maintain an interest in fetal life,” and even to prefer that pregnant teens in their custody choose one course over the other, federal officials “may not create or implement any policy that strips” the teens “of their right to make their own reproductive choices,” Chutkan, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, continued.

Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement that the group was “relieved that the court issued an order preventing the administration from continuing this practice while our case proceeds.”

“With today’s rulings, we are one step closer to ending this extreme policy once and for all and securing justice for all of these young women,” she said.

It was unclear late Friday whether the Trump administration would appeal the ruling. The Justice Department did not immediately respond Friday night to email and phone messages seeking comment.