The Office of Refugee Resettlement is Pushing an Anti-Abortion Agenda on Undocumented Teens

Last updated on: February 13, 2018 at 5:00 am by Libby Anne

The Office of Refugee Resettlement is Pushing an Anti-Abortion Agenda on Undocumented Teens 2018-02-12T20:14:31-04:00 Libby Anne

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Last March, E. Scott Lloyd was appointed Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. His appointment garnered criticism—he did not appear to have much if any relevant experience with resettling refugees. His most relevant experience appeared to be traveling to Iraq to write a report on ISIS’ persecution of Christians, as an attorney for the Catholic charity Knights of Columbus. His primary passion, though, appeared to be his anti-abortion activism.

It should come as a surprise to no one that Lloyd has found a way to use his position at the Office of Refugee Resettlement to prevent abortions among vulnerable populations. In March, the same month he was appointed, Lloyd discussed using an unproven medical technique to “reverse” an abortion obtained by a pregnant undocumented teen in HHS custody.

Patients undergoing medication abortion take two pills. After ingesting the first, they have between 24 and 48 hours to take the second and complete the abortion, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

But in March 2017, the Trump administration delayed allowing an undocumented, pregnant teen to take the second pill for several hours in order to determine the “health status” of her “unborn child,” according to the March 6 memo.

According to the memo, an examination of the teen at a local hospital found a fetal heartbeat more than 24 hours after the teen took the first pill in the medication abortion.

“HHS does not believe we are required to facilitate the abortion.”

In [a] December deposition, Amiri asked Lloyd why ORR officials would undertake such a hospital visit. Lloyd told her, “I’m not, I’m not exactly sure.”

“Did you have conversations about whether the medication abortion could be reversed?” she asked.

“I may have,” Lloyd said.

Amiri asked, “Who did you have those conversations with?”

Lloyd said, “Other transition staff, including attorneys.”

“Why would ORR seek to try to reverse the abortion of an unaccompanied minor?”

“I don’t know, I mean except to save the life of the baby,” Lloyd replied.

This information came out this past fall after four other pregnant undocumented teens in HHS custody accused Lloyd’s office of blocking their access to abortions. One of the girls, “Jane Doe,” sued the office in federal court, represented by the ACLU; the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found in her favor.

According to the Washington Post:

Lloyd has personally intervened to try to persuade unaccompanied minor girls not to have abortions, according to an HHS official.

“When there’s a child in the program who is pregnant, he has been reaching out to her and trying to help as much as possible with life-affirming options,” the spokesman said. “He 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.”

There are about 5,000 unaccompanied minors in the office’s custody.

That is a lot of foster children for one person. It is also not how being a foster parent works. A teen’s foster parent does not have the right to deny them an abortion. In fact, a teen’s foster parent does not have any say in the procedure at all. Zip, nada, none. If Lloyd wants to compare himself to a foster parent he should maybe check where a foster parent’s authority begins and ends.

Foster children are wards of the state, not wards of the foster parent. But even as wards of the state, it is not the agency responsible for them—a state’s department of child and family services—that makes decisions like this for them. Yes that’s right, Lloyd’s spokesperson is that far off in his comparison. In most states, it is a judge, not the agency, and certainly not the foster parents, who determines whether a pregnant teen who is a ward of the state should be allowed to have an abortion.

Also, foster parents are the ones children actually live with. Lloyd does not have 5,000 undocumented children living with him and his wife in his house. A caseworker is not a foster parent, and a state director of child and family services—the closest equivalent to Lloyd’s position—is definitely not a foster parent. This whole “he’s their foster parent” gambit is utter and complete nonsense.

What exactly did Lloyd do, in his position as completely imaginary foster parent?

Court filings in the “Jane Doe” case showed that, as director of ORR, Lloyd flew to Texas to try to talk a young woman out of having an abortion.

“As I’ve said, often these girls start to regret abortion, and if this comes up, we need to connect her with resources for psychological and/or religious counseling,” Lloyd wrote in an email included in the filings by the American Civil Liberties Union.

In another email, he wrote that ORR’s shelters could only provide “pregnancy services and life-affirming options counseling” and “should not be supporting abortion services pre- or post-release.”

That is so inappropriate I don’t know what to say.

Lloyd flew from D.C. to Texas to talk to one specific teenage girl out of having an abortion. And he did this as the Director of the Office of Refugee Settlement. That sounds very much like an abuse of his office.

Oh, and it only gets worse:

The ACLU alleges that federal employees in Texas went as far as to visit the girl to talk her out of the procedure and took her to a Christian “crisis pregnancy center,” where she allegedly received an ultrasound against her will.

WTF. We are not living in Margaret Atwood’s Gilead. Yet.

According to the Washington Post, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) physically prevented the girl from going to a clinic to obtain an abortion despite the fact that a state judge had given her permission to undergo the procedure. It was only after the ACLU got involved and the case moved into federal court that the girl’s petition for an abortion was ultimately granted.

Lloyd flew across the country to talk a teen out of an abortion; the teen was taken to a Christian crisis pregnancy center and forced to have an ultrasound she did not want. Three other teens have made similar claims. And, in a separate case back in March, Lloyd discussed using a medically questionable procedure to “reverse” another teen’s abortion. If anything, the details that have come out in the settlement of this case make it clear that Lloyd has violated the bounds of his office and should be removed.

I have a Patreon! Please support my writing!

Feminism

abortion

Previous Post

February 12, 2018

Conservatives are all about modesty---until Muslims do it

Next Post

February 14, 2018 Answers in Genesis Plays Fast and Loose with Mitochondrial DNA

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atheism Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism Family Feminism Homeschool Meta Parenting Patriarchy Politics Purity Quiverfull Social Justice Uncategorized Worthwhile reads

Select a Month February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does the name "Abraham" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

He laughs God is my judge Father of many My joy