Fed judge blocks Trump administration officials from stopping immigrant teens from getting abortions
Federal judge blocks Trump administration officials from stopping immigrant teens from getting abortions
BY LYDIA WHEELER - 03/30/18 08:01 PM EDT
A federal judge on Friday evening temporarily blocked Trump administration officials from stopping pregnant, unaccompanied immigrant teens who are or will be in federal custody from getting an abortion.
Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is violating the teens' constitutional rights to obtain the procedure.
According to the judge, the administration cannot strip unaccompanied immigrant minor children "of their right to make their own reproductive choices, Chutkan wrote in the decision.
Chutkan's preliminary injunction stops Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Administration for Children and Families Steve Wagner, Office of Refugee Resettlement Director Scott Lloyd and their associates from interfering or obstructing access to abortion, counseling, medical appointments or other pregnancy-related care.
While ORR and its director are certainly entitled to maintain an interest in fetal life, and even to prefer that pregnant UC [unaccompanied immigrant minor children] in ORR custody choose one course over the other, ORR may not create or implement any policy that strips UCs of their right to make their own reproductive choices, she wrote.
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http://thehill.com/regulation/381076-federal-judge-blocks-trump-administration-officials-from-stopping-immigrant-teens