Does A Teenage Girl in a U.S. Immigration Detention Center Have a Right to an Abortion?

For now, yes by a 2-1 vote yesterday of a panel of judges on the important D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals (the court where Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh served, as well as where Merrick Garland sits). That court grows more pro-life with each appointment by President Trump.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement has custody of several hundred pregnant unaccompanied minors every year. They are housed in 21 shelters, including those in states that significantly restrict abortions (e.g., Texas). 

In 2017, ORR received requests for abortions from 18 pregnant unaccompanied minors. However, in March 2017, ORR announced a policy to require permission for an abortion from the ORR Director. Previously, shelters assisted minors with an abortion if state law permitted the procedure. If a state restricted the abortion, ORR would transfer the minor to a shelter willing to provide access.

Scott Lloyd, the new director in 2017, denied every abortion request presented to him during his tenure, including those involving a verifiable claim of rape. This included a request from Jane Poe, who was diagnosed in a medical examination to have been raped. Lloyd explained that ORR must provide refuge “to all the minors in our care, including their unborn children.” He wrote: “In this request, we are being asked to participate in killing a human being in our care,” and “we ought to choose [to] protect life rather than to destroy it.”

Question for Mr. Lloyd: If your agency cannot shelter these children with decent health care, beds—and you are now taking away schooling and recreation for these kids— how do you propose the newborn in your custody should live a decent life?