Back in October, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals sided with a federal district court in Azar v. Garza, and ordered the Trump administration to allow a 17-year-old girl who crossed the border illegally to obtain an abortion. Under current U.S. law, when a minor crosses into this country without parental supervision they are placed in federal custody. The court ordered that she be temporarily released from this custody specifically so she could have an abortion.
Unfortunately, the young girl followed through and was able to end the life of her child with the help of the pro-abortion ACLU. Even though the teen had already received an abortion, the Trump Administration saw this as a potentially dangerous precedent that could have applied in similar circumstances, resulting in the deaths of additional children in the womb.
In the statement released by the Supreme Court, it said that the matter was not debatable because the abortion had already happened. However, similar lawsuits will be allowed to continue through the court system, meaning the this issue could eventually come back to the Supreme Court as the courts start over in adjudicating the case.
In the original court proceedings, the Solicitor General charged the ACLU with deceiving the government about the timing of the young girl’s abortion. As a result the government did not have time to appeal the decision, and the girl was able to abort her unborn child before the courts could intervene. This fact was cited by the U.S. Justice Department to the Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court said it "took seriously" the allegations, the justices concluded "not all communication breakdowns constitute misconduct."
Though this is a small win, it is an important one. While immigration policy is often debated in our country, what should not be debated is the basic dignity of every human being, both inside and outside our borders. It would be a sad day if organizations like the ACLU—which claims to be committed to human rights—succeed in stripping away the rights from human beings crossing our border, and then succeed in forcing federal immigration officials into abetting the death of children in their care.
Keep your eyes peeled for a truly big Supreme Court decision in the coming weeks. The ruling on NIFLA v. Becerra about free speech rights of prolife pregnancy centers could come any day now.
