Unsafe at work: Thai experts sound the alarm on Mental Health Day

[rooster59]

U.S. court blocks immigrant teen's bid to obtain abortion

By Lawrence Hurley and Ian Simpson

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday prevented an illegal immigrant teenager detained by the government from immediately obtaining an abortion, although it left open the possibility she could undergo the procedure within days.

 

The decision by a U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit panel gave the government until Oct. 31 to approve a sponsor, who could help the 17-year-old obtain the procedure without the government's assistance.

 

If the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) signed off on the sponsor, she "will be lawfully able, if she chooses, to obtain an abortion on her own," the court said.

 

It said the requirement that a sponsor be found did not "unduly burden" the immigrant's right to an abortion under Supreme Court precedent.

 

The panel was made up of two Republican-appointed judges and one Democratic appointee, Patricia Millett, who wrote the sole dissenting opinion.

 

"What reason does the federal government offer for taking over (her) decision completely and forcing her to continue an unwanted pregnancy that Texas law permits her to terminate? None that remotely qualifies under the Constitution, or that even makes sense," Millett wrote.

 

The teen, from an unidentified country, is currently detained in Texas and 15 weeks pregnant. She entered the United States without any family in September and was immediately detained by the government and placed in a shelter.

 

A federal judge in Washington this week ruled the abortion procedure could go ahead. But the government obtained a temporary order blocking the decision until the appeals court ruled.

 

The appeals court said that if the teen could not find a sponsor, she could renew her legal claim.

 

She had sought and received a Texas court order to approve the abortion because she is under 18, and had scheduled a sonogram and consultation with a physician, as required by state law. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, an arm of the HHS, refused to let her leave the detention centre to carry out those steps, however.

 

The Administration for Children and Families, a division of HHS, issued the following statement later on Friday: "For however much time we are given, the Office of Refugee Resettlement and HHS will protect the well-being of this minor and all children and their babies in our facilities, and we will defend human dignity for all in our care."

 

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has taken up the case, said in a court filing that the Office of Refugee Resettlement revised its procedures in March to mandate that abortions for under-age detainees required office approval.

 

The policy change came weeks after the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican who campaigned on promises to clamp down on illegal immigration and seek new restrictions on women's access to abortions.

 

"Justice is delayed yet again for this courageous and persistent young woman," said ACLU lawyer Brigitte Amiri in a statement. "She continues to be held hostage and prevented from getting an abortion because the Trump administration disagrees with her personal decision."

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-10-21

[Jingthing]

First they came for the undocumented immigrants ...

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/10/the_justice_department_s_radical_new_anti_abortion_stance_echoes_dred_scott.html

Quote

On Friday morning, the Justice Department will return to court once more to argue, in effect, that Jane Doe is not a “person” worthy of due process protections. It might as well cite Dred Scott for the proposition that the government may strip undocumented immigrants of their constitutionally protected liberty. The 14^th Amendment was designed to end such capricious discrimination against individuals living in the United States. But to the Trump administration, immigrants like Doe aren’t even people—just possessions of the state, awaiting deportation.

 

[darksidedog]

Crazy! How can a 17 year old girl be such a security risk, that she can't be taken out of the jail to a hospital, even when she has a court order, authorising the procedures? And then everyones time is wasted in the courts for god knows how long, and for what? The girl is going to get the abortion in the end anyway. The law is on her side.

[meinphuket]

Illegal immigrant, free abortion at the expense of tax payers ? What a crazy world.....

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, meinphuket said:

Illegal immigrant, free abortion at the expense of tax payers ? What a crazy world.....

What an ignorant world. Or at least some of its members. Federal law does not allow the federal government to pay for abortions. This woman has the money to pay for it. But if she didn't, and allowed her pregnancy to proceed, the baby would be born an American citizen. What right wingers call an anchor baby. 

"A state judge previously ruled that the teenager could get an abortion without the parental permission required by Texas law, but she and her lawyers say federal officials have refused to allow her to travel to a clinic. Doe’s lawyers are not asking the government to pay for the procedure or arrange the transportation."

https://www.buzzfeed.com/zoetillman/the-trump-administration-just-went-to-court-to-defend?utm_term=.nwZNZRy8g#.srep2elGE

"The ACLU brought suit on Friday on behalf of the 17-year-old in the Brownsville shelter, contending HHS has barred the girl, now about 14 weeks pregnant, from getting the abortion even though she got a judge’s permission to have it without parental consent and has obtained the money to pay for it."

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/16/undocumented-pregnant-girl-trump-abortion-texas-243844?utm_campaign=KHN%3A First Edition&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=57432570&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_y0i4UykjG-IlqQn9-S6aUhVMfx2GwQ_Y90XwSKVaudpeBxfOBIMdZeqwTn2sjzHQvluaO0jdtIg21eOr9MCaiJXkP3w&_hsmi=57432570

 

 

 

[Guest Jerry787]

3 hours ago, meinphuket said:

Illegal immigrant, free abortion at the expense of tax payers ? What a crazy world.....

what an ignorant comment, yes an ignorant world!
Meinpukhet maybe doesn't have in his dictionary Human Rights, Freedom of Choice and yes which bank and countries made so bad to force a migrants to seek better future, also you are in pukhet ? right  ? ..... well what a crazy world....
She has the funds or not the state but others will fund the abortion, racisms make people blind and ignorant.

[Grumpy Duck]

4 hours ago, meinphuket said:

Illegal immigrant, free abortion at the expense of tax payers ? What a crazy world.....

No where did I read Free Abortion at tax payer expense. But perhaps when a person is in taxpayer custody there may be a taxpayer liability

[boomerangutang]

Republicans are sick to the core.  They make a lot of noise about government not interfering in peoples' lives, ......yet they're gatekeepers putting a lock on a woman's womb.

 

Message to Republicans:  you've got the prez.  You've got both houses of congress.  When are you going to do something worthwhile?   You should all send back your salaries to the national treasury, because you're doing the most nothing of any group of paid people in history.

 

Leave the little lady alone, and try to, for example, keep the dangerous dufus in the WH from starting a nuclear war.

[Jingthing]

Their motivations aren't really mysterious.

Their intention is to make abortion illegal for ALL (and also to abolish same sex marriage, etc.) but for now, they'll attack more limited aspects of that issue that they have a chance of winning.

One or two trumpist supreme court picks, added to all his regressive federal court picks, and indeed welcome BACK to the deep dark definitely NOT GREAT American past. 

[jackh]

Simple answer to problem....deport. As should be the case for all illegals.

[USPatriot]

Easy fix   deportation 

[The Old Bull]

They shouldn't be allowed to call that place "the land of the free" 

[sirineou]

Republicans want to limit  government's influence in our lives . 

[tryasimight]

Have the kid on US soil.....US citizen by birth....wait a few years and bring the whole crew over.........Big business plan for the Chinese I have heard.

 

Illegal immigrant from where?

[tryasimight]

7 hours ago, Jerry787 said:

what an ignorant comment, yes an ignorant world!
Meinpukhet maybe doesn't have in his dictionary Human Rights, Freedom of Choice and yes which bank and countries made so bad to force a migrants to seek better future, also you are in pukhet ? right  ? ..... well what a crazy world....
She has the funds or not the state but others will fund the abortion, racisms make people blind and ignorant.

Racism? really...what race is she?

[edthhd]

On 10/21/2017 at 10:01 PM, jackh said:

Simple answer to problem....deport. As should be the case for all illegals.

No human being is "illegal" but may be undocumented. We are all one race - Homo Sapiens. Please respect the humanity of all.

[jackh]

On October 22, 2017 at 10:00 PM, edthhd said:

No human being is "illegal" but may be undocumented. We are all one race - Homo Sapiens. Please respect the humanity of all.

Any human being entering the USA violating our immigration laws IS illegal and subject to arrest and deportation. That is the facts. Therefor they are not wanted or tolerated by any American citizen who is a law abiding member of our society. The safety and security of US citizens are at grave risk otherwise, same as any country in the free world.

They should ALL be deported plain and simple as I said before. 

This has nothing to do with respecting humanity. It is the way it should be and the way Trump will see to it implemented.