WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Tuesday cleared the way for a 17-year-old immigrant held in custody in Texas to obtain an abortion.
The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 6-3 that new dates should be set for the teen to obtain the procedure. The decision overruled a ruling by a three-judge panel of the court that at least temporarily blocked her from getting an abortion. Tuesday’s decision could still be appealed to the Supreme Court.
The teen, whose name and country of origin have been withheld because she’s a minor, is about 15 weeks pregnant. She entered the U.S. in September and learned she was pregnant while in federal custody in Texas.
She obtained a state court order Sept. 25 permitting her to have an abortion. But federal officials have refused to transport her or temporarily release her so that others may take her to have an abortion.
Lawyers for the Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for sheltering children who illegally enter the country unaccompanied by a parent, have said the department has a policy of “refusing to facilitate” abortions and that releasing the teenager would require arranging a transfer of custody and follow-up care.
The teenager’s lawyers have said all the government needed to do was “get out of the way.” An attorney appointed to represent the teen’s interests has said she could transport her to and from appointments necessary for the procedure, and the federal government would not have to pay for it.
A federal judge sided with the teen and set dates for the procedure last week, but the government appealed. The three-judge panel of the appeals court ruled 2-1 on Friday that the government should have until Oct. 31 to release the teen, so she could obtain the abortion outside government custody.
So now for their next move they’ll transfer her out if the facility she is in to another state so she’ll have jump through more legal hoops.
And nobody in this Congress who cares will have the power to investigate this.
I bet we get to see the lawlessness of the forced-birthers in action when they continue to detain her from anyone’s out side help. Contempt of Court much?
LIMITED GOVERNMENT! STATES RIGHTS! FREEDOM & LIBERTY*
*Except if you’re not a White, Male, Evangelical “Christian”…
Apparently what the anti-abortion types pushing this don’t get is that if forced to give birth, this woman will be the mother of an anchor baby…I mean American citizen. Talk about a rock and a hard place.
“She obtained a state court order Sept. 25 permitting her to have an abortion. But federal officials have refused to transport her or temporarily release her so that others may take her to have an abortion.”
I would argue these are impeachable offenses. This, and the lack of action on the Russian sanctions approved by Congress and signed by the President. Yet, there is no action or even a response to Congressional inquiries after the Oct 1 deadline passed.
“I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,”