Trump admin asks court to hold order on migrant teens’ access to abortion

The Trump administration is asking a federal court to put on hold the order the court issued Friday stopping government officials from blocking unaccompanied immigrant teens who are or will be in federal custody from getting an abortion.

In a motion Tuesday, attorneys in the Department of Justice requested U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia stay Judge Tanya Chutkan’s order while they fight it in court.

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The case stems from a lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) brought on behalf of unaccompanied immigrant teens in federal custody who are pregnant.

On Friday, Chutkan agreed to certify the named plaintiffs and all similarly situated teens as a class in a class action lawsuit and grant ACLU’s request for a temporary injunction to block officials in the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) from interfering with or obstructing a teen’s access to abortion.

The injunction also blocks the officials from informing anyone of a teen’s pregnancy or their decision to obtain an abortion.

In their motion for a stay Tuesday, Department of Justice attorneys argued the court order blocks ORR from “carrying out its statutory and custodial responsibilities by restricting its ability to involve the minor’s parents and notify authorized medical personnel as it deems necessary, and it requires ORR to facilitate abortions of unaccompanied alien children in its care.”

They also argue the class certification is unwarranted since the four named plaintiffs are out of ORR custody and have undergone the abortion procedures they sought.

“It is well-settled that ‘a litigant must be a member of the class which he or she seeks to represent at the time the class action is certified by the district court,'” they wrote.

In her order Friday, Chutkan said ORR’s policies infringe on the constitutional rights of unaccompanied immigrant teens to obtain an abortion. 

FILED Doe v. Azar Stay Pending Appeal of PI ECF No. 128 4-3-18 (1) by blc88 on Scribd