Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the ACLU cannot turn the Lone Star State into a sanctuary state for abortions. His remarks follow the overturning of a D.C. district court judge’s ruling that the federal government could not stop a teenage illegal immigrant from having an abortion. The D.C. Court of Appeals temporarily stayed the lower court’s ruling from Wednesday.
“The D.C. Circuit made the right decision to temporarily stay the district court’s order, which contradicts U.S. Supreme Court precedent and harms the public interest because it effectively creates a right to abortion for anyone who entered the U.S. illegally, no matter how briefly,” Attorney General Paxton told the court. “Texas must not become a sanctuary state for abortions.”
The State of Texas is leading a nine-state coalition that filed an amicus brief supporting the Trump Administration’s policy that an illegal immigrant does not have a right to abortion.
In a brief filed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), attorneys stated, “Ms. Doe may choose to terminate her federal custody either by voluntarily departing the U.S. or by finding a sponsor, which would eliminate any alleged need for the government to facilitate her elective abortion.”
At issue is a much broader question. Can the courts create rights for illegal immigrants that are not codified in law?
“Jane Doe” entered the United States in September as an Unaccompanied Alien Minor. She is currently being detained in an immigration facility paid for by HHS in South Texas.
The states lined up to stop the court’s granting of approval are from Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Carolina, Breitbart Texas reported on Wednesday.
“No federal court has ever declared that unlawfully-present aliens with no ties to this country have a constitutional right to abortion on demand, the attorneys general wrote in the amicus brief filed with the district court. “The Court should decline to break that new ground.”
U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2014, issued an order on Wednesday prohibiting the federal government from stopping the minor’s abortion.
She said she was “astounded” at the government’s position and that the government is attempting to leave the young girl who illegally crossed the border from Mexico into Texas last month with two options. Those being: Voluntarily return to the nations she fled to procure an abortion; or carry an unwanted pregnancy to term.”
She ordered that the 17-year old (“Doe”) be taken “promptly and without delay” to an abortion provider in Texas, according to a statement obtained by Breitbart Texas from the Office of the Texas Attorney General.
On Thursday morning, the appellate court issued the temporary stay, blocking Chutkan’s ruling.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, GAB, and Facebook.
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