Trump administration asks Supreme Court to prevent detainee from having abortion

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to intervene and stop one of two immigrants in federal custody because they do not have proper legal permission to be in the U.S. from having an abortion.

A federal district court judge issued a temporary restraining order Monday to stop administration officials from preventing two 17-year-old girls, known in court documents as Jane Roe and Jane Poe, from having the procedures.

But the government right now is only appealing the abortion of Roe, who according to court documents is about 10 weeks pregnant. The government said only that there are “differing circumstances surrounding Ms. Poe’s case.”

{mosads}The administration is asking the court to block the ruling for a minimum of two weeks while the government vets the sponsor that has been identified for Roe.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals extended the 24-hour hold that District Judge Tanya Chutkan placed on the temporary restraining order. She had issued that order on Monday to give the government time to appeal until 6:05 p.m. on Tuesday.

Chutkan lifted the 24-hour hold for Poe on Tuesday to allow her to obtain her abortion as soon as possible since the government has not appealed the order blocking her procedure.

The American Civil Liberties Union said Poe is in her second trimester, but she has not had an ultrasound so it is not known how many weeks pregnant she is.

The Justice Department said in a court filing Tuesday afternoon that Roe is 19 years old, not 17 as previously believed, and that the Office of Refugee Resettlement is transferring her to the Department of Homeland Security as an adult.

The department said Roe’s transfer will be completed imminently and “will materially affect the viability and review” of the temporary restraining order Chutkan issued on Monday. 

Detention standards from 2016 on the U.S. Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s website say women detainees can fund the termination of their own pregnancies.

The case comes just months after the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed another immigrant teen in the U.S. without legal permission, known as Jane Doe, to receive an abortion in Texas.

– This story was updated at 7:05 P.M. EST.