WASHINGTON _ The Trump administration must stop blocking a pregnant teenage immigrant currently being held in custody in Texas from getting an abortion, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
Immigration officials have been refusing to allow the 17-year-old, known in court as Jane Doe, to travel to an abortion clinic from the shelter for unaccompanied immigrant minors where she is being held.
Lawyers for the ACLU, which went to court on Jane Doe's behalf, said that officials of the Office of Refugee Resettlement had taken the woman to a Christian group that counsels pregnant women not to have abortions, but had refused to give her permission to travel to the clinic.
In a hearing in the case, a Justice Department lawyer had suggested that because the woman was not legally a U.S. resident, she was not covered by the constitutional right to end her pregnancy.
At a hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan rebuked the government lawyers. Her order directs immigration officials to transport Jane Doe to the clinic of her choice and allow her to obtain an abortion by Saturday.
"At last, our client will be able to get the care she needs without federal officials standing in the way," Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement.
"Her courage and perseverance are incredible, but no one should have to go to court to get a safe, legal abortion. And no one should be held hostage to the extreme anti-abortion views of a handful of government officials."
