The DOJ wants to reveal an undocumented teens abortion to an uncle who threatened to beat her.

As Americans were preparing to ring in the new year over the weekend, the Trump administration fired a new retaliatory salvo in its war against undocumented teenagers who seek lawful abortions in contravention of the government’s wishes. In November, the Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court to sanction the ACLU attorneys who secured one minor’s right to abortion access, an unscrupulous act of attempted retribution. Now the DOJ wants to punish a minor by revealing her private medical information to an uncle who threatened to “beat” her if she terminated her pregnancy.

Justice Department attorneys launched their latest offensive in response to yet another judicial rout of the administration policy that attempts to bar undocumented minors from getting abortions, even in the case of rape. On Dec. 18, 2017, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered the Trump administration to allow two more undocumented teenagers in federal custody, known as Jane Poe and Jane Roe, to obtain abortions. She also prohibited the government from divulging information about their pregnancies or abortions “to anyone.” Both women promptly underwent the procedure, according to an ACLU court filing. Then, on Thursday, the ACLU asked Chutkan to extend her restraining order by continuing to bar the government from disclosing Poe and Roe’s abortion statuses.

This request was quite reasonable, as Poe and Roe have a constitutional right to privacy in their medical information. But the Justice Department decided to oppose the ACLU’s motion for two reasons. First, the DOJ argued that Roe does not deserve privacy protections because she is 19 and therefore subject to a different set of rules from undocumented minors. (Roe says she is 17 and was initially treated like a minor, but the government located a birth certificate indicating that she is actually two years older.) Second, with regard to Poe—who is indisputably 17—the government demanded the ability to disclose her abortion information “to medical providers” in order “to vet potential sponsors.”

The government does not persuasively explain why it might need to disclose Poe’s abortion status to her doctors instead of simply letting her do it. But what’s more disturbing is the notion that Trump administration officials would want (or need) to tell Poe’s possible sponsors about her procedure. A sponsor, typically a family member, houses an undocumented minor until she reaches the age of majority, acquires lawful status, or gets deported. Poe’s most likely sponsor is her uncle—who told Poe that he would “beat” her if she terminated her pregnancy. The government requests the authority to inform Poe’s uncle—as well as her parents, who made the same threat—that she went through with the abortion.


http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2018/01/the_trump_doj_tried_to_reveal_an_undocumented_teen_s_abortion_to_an_uncle.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top