The Supreme Court dealt a blow to abortion activists Monday, overturning an order from a lower court forcing the Trump Administration to facilitate an abortion for an illegal immigrant teenager.
Like the religious freedom ruling also issued Monday, though, the abortion ruling is narrow. The Court declared the issue moot in a specific case of a “Jane Doe” teen who was seeking an abortion while living in a “government-funded shelter” after being captured crossing the border illegally, reports The Washington Post.
The teen was able to obtain an abortion on her own, without the help of government administrators, and has since turned 18, anyway.
Like the Masterpiece Cake Shop case, though, this decision may have lingering effects. There are other immigrant abortion cases making their way through the courts, and there is a temporary order in effect that allows undocumented teens to get abortions while being held in federal custody pending an appeal that’s working its way through the system.
The court also reiterated a longstanding policy that “the federal government is not obligated to help a minor get an abortion and may choose policies favoring life over abortion,” attorneys for the Trump Administration told media in a press conference.