'Jane Doe' Got Her Abortion. Trump Policy Will Still Block Them For Other Immigrant Teens.

Elise Foley and Ryan J. Reilly
Updated

WASHINGTON ― A 17-year-old undocumented immigrant was finally able to terminate her pregnancy on Wednesday morning after weeks of obstruction by the Trump administration. Jane Doe, as the girl is known in court, had an abortion after a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday afternoon that the federal government could no longer block her from leaving a shelter for the procedure.

But other undocumented minors are in similar situations. And while Jane Doe found relief, her abortion won’t immediately resolve a broader issue: The Trump administration is going to great lengths to keep minors in its custody from getting abortions.

“This is one battle in a war that we are in with the Trump administration about access to reproductive health care and attacks on immigrants and civil rights in general,” Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project who represented the teen, told HuffPost. “What happened to Jane Doe is really symptomatic of a larger problem with the Trump administration. ... They have started with the most vulnerable, unaccompanied immigrant minors, but I have no doubt that they will try to escalate and roll back reproductive rights for many others.”

The Planned Parenthood Federation of American and coalition partners protest efforts by the Trump administration to block teen immigrant "Jane Doe" from getting an abortion. (Photo: Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The Planned Parenthood Federation of American and coalition partners protest efforts by the Trump administration to block teen immigrant "Jane Doe" from getting an abortion. (Photo: Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

There are hundreds of pregnant immigrant minors in U.S. government custody at any given time, according to the ACLU, although it’s unknown how many are seeking abortions. The legal fight will continue for them in a class action suit to block the administration policies that prevent them from obtaining abortions.

The Trump administration blocked Jane Doe from leaving a shelter to get an abortion for a full month, stretching her pregnancy to 16 weeks, even after she received permission from a Texas state judge on Sept. 25 to make her own decision about an abortion. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which has her in its custody, had refused to allow her to leave a shelter to undergo the procedure at her own expense, although it did let her out to go to a “crisis pregnancy center” where she was urged to reconsider. Abortion is illegal in the girl’s home country.

Jane Doe said in a statement released Wednesday that it had been “very difficult” to wait in the shelter for more than a month before she was allowed to proceed.

“No one should be shamed for making the right decision for themselves,” Jane Doe said in a statement released through her guardian. “I would not tell any other girl in my situation what they should do. That decision is hers and hers alone.”

The Trump administration’s Office of Refugee Resettlement has implemented new policies to deter abortions for minors in its care. While previously office directors were involved only in decisions over whether government funding could be used for abortion, such as cases of rape, the new rules demand veto power on any abortion, even if it wouldn’t be funded by the government. The current director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement is Scott Lloyd, a former attorney for the Knights of Columbus who opposes abortion.

Lloyd personally visited a shelter to urge another unaccompanied minor to continue her pregnancy, according to the ACLU. In another case, then-Office of Refugee Resettlement acting director Ken Tota made a minor go to the emergency room after she had taken the first of two doses for a medical abortion to see if the pregnancy could be continued, according to the suit. That minor was ultimately able to complete the abortion.

The Trump administration wrote in court filings that it has “strong and constitutionally legitimate interests in promoting childbirth, in refusing to facilitate abortion, and in not providing incentives for pregnant minors to illegally cross the border to obtain elective abortions while in federal custody.”

The Trump administration has argued that it is not blocking Jane Doe’s access to abortion. A government attorney said she could leave the U.S. if she wanted to undergo the procedure ― even though abortion is against the law in her native country ― or be released to a sponsor. The teen is not yet in deportation proceedings, according to her attorneys, so it is unclear whether she has legal avenues to remain in the United States. She has been in U.S. custody since early September because the government has not found her a sponsor.

The government attorney said the Justice Department was not addressing the question of whether undocumented immigrants have the constitutional right to abortion as part of the Jane Doe hearing.

A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately respond to an inquiry on whether the Trump administration had been preparing to take the case to the Supreme Court.

The government also argued that it should not have to “facilitate” an abortion for Jane Doe, even though its involvement would only be to approve her temporarily leaving the shelter to obtain the procedure. The same argument about facilitation could be applied to women in prison or in custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and although the government has not raised it in those situations, their rights are also a concern, Amiri said.

It also falls in line with broader efforts to curb reproductive rights under the Trump administration, she said.

“They have gone to incredible lengths to prevent Jane Doe from accessing an abortion,” Amiri said. “There is no doubt in my mind that they are going to do everything that they can to fight us not just with access for other unaccompanied minors but ... for many more women.”

One judge wrote that the Trump administration had “bulldozed over constitutional lines” by arguing that Jane Doe should be forced to leave the country if she wanted an abortion.

“Surely the mere act of entry into the United States without documentation does not mean that an immigrant’s body is no longer her or his own,” Patricia Millett, the appeals court judge, wrote. “Nor can the sanction for unlawful entry be forcing a child to have a baby. The bedrock protections of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause cannot be that shallow.”

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April 2015

At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”
At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”

June 2015

At a speech announcing his campaign: "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

August 2015

On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 
On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 

September 2015

On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”
On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”

November 2015

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 
On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 

February 2016

At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”
At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”

March 2016

At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”
At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”

April 2016

At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”
At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”

July 2016

At the Republican National Convention: "Tonight, I want every American whose demands for immigration security have been denied ― and every politician who has denied them ― to listen very closely to the words I am about to say. On January 21st of 2017, the day after I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced."

September 2016

At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”
At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”

September 2016

On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”
On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.