Politics

Dem Senators Scold Trump Administration For Delaying Jane Doe Abortion

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Grace Carr Reporter
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Democratic senators aren’t happy that the Trump administration made illegal immigrant Jane Doe wait before aborting her unborn child, and want information from the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR) policies, according to a Friday letter.

“We are extremely disturbed by the continued reports of intervention in the medical care of minors in the Office of Refugee Resettlement,” senators wrote in a Friday letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) acting secretary, Eric Hargan.

They allege that ORR Director Scott Lloyd and other Trump administration officials failed in their duty to provide health care for and protect the privacy of those in their custody by delaying Jane Doe in getting an abortion. (Related: JANE DOE: ‘I FEEL GOOD’ About Decision To Get Abortion).

The agency has failed at its mission “by denying access to legal healthcare, undermining privacy, denying access to attorneys, and potentially identifying sponsors in violation of the law,” the letter states. “We continue to be concerned that ORR’s implementation of policies and procedures regarding care for minors in the federal government’s custody is inconsistent with federal law and best practices to provide for the care of minors.”

“He [Lloyd] by law has custody of these children, and just like a foster parent, he knows that that’s a lot of responsibility and he is going to make choices that he thinks are best for both the mother and the child,” the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) wrote in response, according to the Washington Examiner.

The senators were also worried that Lloyd would burden women wanting to get abortions with his “extreme views,” according to the Examiner, and alleged that the HHS hadn’t protected Jane Doe’s privacy rights like they should have, despite media outlets weren’t aware of where she had her abortion until after the fact.

“The media had information about the young woman’s whereabouts, the dates of her arrival in the United States, and the dates of her court appearances,” the senators wrote. “Given this information, a trafficker could conceivably have identified Jane Doe,” they concluded.

The letter is signed by Democratic Sens. Al Franken, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Dianne Feinstein, Richard Blumenthal and Robert Melendez among others.

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