Trump Administration Orders Refugee Shelters to Direct Pregnant Teens to Anti-Abortion Clinics
Circumventing a recent court order, the Trump administration has issued new marching orders to refugee shelters around the country: Direct pregnant teens in their care to anti-abortion clinics, provide medically inaccurate information about pregnancy and promise that the federal government will “care for both you and your child.”
The ACLU is battling the federal government in court over the right of undocumented immigrant minors held at shelters overseen by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to access abortions. In late March, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., sided with the ACLU, temporarily stopping ORR from blocking the procedure. Beginning in mid-April, the agency was required to instruct shelters to post a notice that reaffirms the teens’ right to abortion and includes contact information for an ACLU attorney.
In response, ORR sent an email on April 20 to shelters nationwide ordering them to put up a notice next to the ACLU poster that says the agency will “provide prenatal and medical care” or help plan for adoption. Though the notice doesn’t mention abortion, it encourages pregnant teens to seek counseling at anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers, listing three such organizations including the Sisters of Life, a group run by Catholic nuns who “vow to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life.” The email also requires the nationwide distribution of a controversial Texas anti-abortion booklet called “A Woman’s Right to Know,” which contains false claims linking abortion to breast cancer, as well as information about Texas-specific anti-abortion laws.
“The government certainly has been relentless in their attempts to find ways to force their anti-abortion beliefs on this population, and I feel like this is just another iteration of what they’ve done in the past,” said the ACLU’s Brigitte Amiri, a lead attorney on the case. The dissemination of the ORR notice and Texas booklet is “totally misleading” and “incredibly confusing to this population that is already so marginalized and isolated,” Amiri said. “Certainly I think that it undermines the preliminary injunction.”
Read more: https://www.texasobserver.org/trump-administration-orders-refugee-shelters-to-direct-pregnant-teens-to-anti-abortion-clinics/
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