Leading an 11-state coalition, Attorney General Ken Paxton today filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in defense of the federal government’s right to refuse to facilitate an abortion for an unlawfully present minor alien in the U.S. Immigration officials detained the minor, who is 10 weeks pregnant, in a shelter funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), though the location has not been disclosed.
The brief was filed after a U.S. District Court ruled that the Trump administration cannot prevent the unlawfully present minor alien from obtaining an abortion.
“The ruling contradicts U.S. Supreme Court precedent and harms the public interest because it effectively creates a right to abortion for anyone who enters the U.S. illegally, no matter how briefly,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Unlawfully-present aliens with no substantial ties to this country do not have a constitutional right to abortion on demand. Texas must not become a sanctuary state for abortions.”
The American Civil Liberties Union represents the minor and wants HHS either to transport the minor or allow her to be taken to a clinic for an abortion. The HHS office that oversees shelters prohibits them from taking steps to facilitate abortions for unaccompanied minors taken into federal custody after crossing the border illegally.
Joining Texas on the amicus brief are the attorneys general of Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, West Virginia, and the governor of Kentucky.