17-year-Old Undocumented Wins Abortion Access Battle With Trump Administration

After being stalled for several weeks by the Trump administration and several deliberations by the U.S. Justice Department, a 17-year-old undocumented girl was finally allowed to get an abortion. 

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She was detained at the U.S.- Mexico border and was held at a Texas detention center in Brownsville, where after a medical examination it was confirmed that she was pregnant.

"People I don't even know are trying to make me change my mind," the teenager who is being referred to as Jane Doe to protect her identity said in an  American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU statement. 

"I knew immediately what was best for me then, as I do now – that I'm not ready to be a parent." 

The issue drew national attention as many women's rights activists were outraged at Trump administration for blocking an undocumented teenager's access to abortion. 

Doe who said she suffered abuse back home was 11 weeks pregnant when the issue first gained traction in September.

Per Texas law, an unaccompanied minor needs to get permission from the judge for an abortion. After being placed under a government-funded shelter, she was appointed a guardian and a state hearing was arranged, where the judge ruled that she was mature enough to make a decision. Doe decided to get an abortion only to be intervened by the Department of Health and  Human Services overseeing the shelter, that stated it would be in her best interest to complete the term. 

The Justice Department stressed in a filing on Monday, that they didn't want the government to be "complicit in Ms. Doe's abortion."  

"The government may legitimately express a preference for childbirth over abortion, even if such a preference may have practical effects or limits on a woman's exercise of her right to abortion," Justice Department lawyers filing said. 

 With weeks passing, Doe was only four weeks away from the 20-week abortion rule followed in Texas.  

The D.C. circuit court of appeals ruled in favor of Doe getting an abortion but in order to do so, she was asked to get a government approved sponsor by Oct.31. Judge Patricia Millet dissented the decision stating it, "sacrifices J.D.'s constitutional liberty, autonomy, and personal dignity for no justifiable governmental purpose."

The decision that comes amid Trump administration's war on abortion access, has been heralded as an important victory among pro-choice and immigrant groups. 

"Justice prevailed today for Jane Doe," Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, told the NPR. "With this case we have seen the astounding lengths this administration will go to block women from abortion care."   

But the larger question concerning many undocumented minors entering the country whether they will be able to gain access to abortion continues to loom.

 "(U)nfortunately, other women and girls desperate to escape abuse, sexual trafficking, and forced prostitution undoubtedly will also find themselves on our shores and pregnant," Millet concluded in her statement.