On September 11, 2017 a 17-year-old adolescent was detained at the US-Mexican border and denied the abortion that she was seeking. The current administration has made it particularly difficult for undocumented immigrants to receive abortions. In Texas, where the shelter that this young woman dubbed \u201cJane Doe\u201d is staying is, minors need parental permission to receive an abortion.<\/p>\n
This law meant that Jane Doe had to go to court<\/a> with an attorney and appointed guardian to fight to have the right to have her abortion. While the judge granted her authority to receive the abortion, the government then came in and appealed it, forcing Jane Doe to go to a \u201ccrisis pregnancy center.\u201d At this location she received counseling to continue the pregnancy and had an ultrasound performed by non-medical personnel. This series of events was a blatant violation of human rights and completely unethical.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The ACLU continues to fight for women\u2019s rights. They have asked the court to declare the current administration\u2019s policy unconstitutional. Jane Doe was hardly the first case where an unaccompanied minor has been denied access to abortion by the hands of the federal government. The ACLU reports that at one point the government tried to prevent a woman from having an abortion by sending her to the emergency department after she took the abortion pill.<\/p>\n