ACLU Class Action Takes on Government’s Block on Abortions for Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors

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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against, in their official capacities, Eric Hargan, the Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Stephen Wagner, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families; and Scott Lloyd, the Director of Office of Refugee Resettlement challenging the government’s alleged interference with the minor plaintiff’s right to obtain an abortion.

The lawsuit argues that the government is legally required to provide unaccompanied immigrant minors—many of whom have come to the U.S. fleeing sexual abuse or have been trafficked for labor or prostitution, the complaint reads—with basic necessities that include housing, food, and access to emergency and post-sexual assault care.

“[The defendants] have recently revised nationwide policies that allow them to wield and unconstitutional veto power over unaccompanied immigrant minors’ access to abortion in violation of their Fifth Amendment rights,” the lawsuit argues. “Under these nationwide policies, [the defendants] also force unaccompanied minors who request abortion to visit a pre-approved anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center, which requires the minor to divulge the most intimate details of her life to an entity hostile to their abortion decision, in violation of her First and Fifth Amendment rights."

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff, an unaccompanied immigrant minor currently in the government’s custody, recently learned she was pregnant and informed the shelter in Texas in which she’s staying that she wanted an abortion. The defendants have allegedly denied the plaintiff’s request, the lawsuit says, and are “essentially holding [the plaintiff] hostage” to prevent her from terminating her pregnancy. The lawsuit, from here, expands further on the defendant’s alleged treatment of the plaintiff: 

The plaintiff’s court-appointed guardian ad litem seeks with the lawsuit an immediate temporary restraining order to grant the plaintiff access to a judicially approved abortion, as well as a preliminary injunction to prevent the defendants from “obstructing, interfering with, or blocking” others’ access to such procedures.