An Obama-appointed judge ruled Friday that the Trump administration must tell illegal immigrant minors that they can get abortions and direct them to the pro-abortion American Civil Liberties Union.
Breitbart reports Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Friday that the government-run shelters must provide notices to all illegal immigrant children about their so-called right to an elective abortion.
The judge sided with the ACLU, which is challenging a new policy in the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement that encourages pregnant minors to consider life-affirming options.
Chutkan’s ruling will force government-funded shelters, including those run by religious charities that oppose abortion, to post the notices on their walls “immediately,” according to the report. In addition, they also must inform pregnant girls of their “right” to an abortion.
Written in English and Spanish, the notices say:
“If you are pregnant, you have the right to decide whether to have the baby or to have an abortion. No one who works for the government or the shelter can force your decision either way. No one who works for the government or the shelter can tell anyone about your pregnancy or decision to have an abortion if you don’t want them to do so.”
The notices also must include the phone number and email address of an ACLU attorney, according to Breitbart.
Lawyers for the Trump administration said they will appeal Chutkan’s ruling, The Washington Times reports.
Here’s more from the report:
Government lawyers argue that while in U.S. custody, the government has a duty to the health of both the girl and her fetus. Federal law also prohibits spending money to facilitate an abortion.
The government says girls who want an abortion can either accept speedy deportation or else work to get a sponsor in the U.S. Once with the sponsor, the girl is free to choose an abortion or any other legal course.
But Judge Chutkan ruled those weren’t choices, saying it can often take weeks to find a sponsor. She also said she wouldn’t stomach sending pregnant teens back to countries where abortion was illegal.
Tom McClusky, president of March for Life Action, described the ruling as “disastrous” and “tragic” for every person involved.
“It is the duty of the government to protect all the refugees under their care, both born and unborn – rather than compound the violence they are fleeing,” McClusky said. “The ACLU is not acting in the best interests of women who came here illegally, and it is wrong of Judge Chutkan to force the allocation of government resources towards promoting such a pro-abortion organization.”
The pro-abortion lawsuit is part of the ACLU’s larger agenda to force the government to help facilitate illegal immigrant minors’ abortions with taxpayer dollars.
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In 2017, the Office of Refugee Resettlement under the Department of Health and Human Services issued a new policy requiring that taxpayer-funded shelters for immigrants and refugees offer life-affirming support to unaccompanied pregnant minors. The duties of the office including providing basic care, including health care, to unaccompanied immigrant children until they are placed with a family member or sponsor.
The policy states that shelters may not take “any action that facilitates” an abortion for unaccompanied minors without the office director’s approval, and “grantees should not be supporting abortion services … only pregnancy services and life-affirming options counseling.”
The issue arose last fall after the ACLU demanded that the Office of Refugee Resettlement help facilitate an abortion for an unaccompanied minor in Texas. “Jane Doe” aborted her 16-week unborn baby on Oct. 25, less than a day after a federal appeals court forced Trump administration officials to help facilitate the abortion.
In November, the Trump administration said the pro-abortion legal group deceived the government about when an illegal immigrant teen’s abortion was scheduled. The government said this prevented it from appealing a court ruling that forced Lloyd’s office to help facilitate the girl’s abortion.
Then, in February, another pregnant illegal immigrant minor who possibly was entangled in the lawsuits said she no longer wanted two pro-abortion attorneys to represent her because she was choosing life for her unborn baby.
