Trump/Pence Fascists Conspire to Reduce 17-Year-Old Undocumented Girl to an Incubator

NO! We Must REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America!

by Sunsara Taylor

Updated October 25, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Update, October 25, Editors’ note: Today, the 17-year-old undocumented immigrant, Jane Doe, who is imprisoned in a Texas detention camp was finally able to get the abortion she was seeking after a federal appeals court ruling. She and her advocates had been battling the Christian fascists in Texas and elsewhere, the courts, and all the way up to the Trump/Pence regime which had intervened to block her from getting the abortion. A big shout out goes to everyone who demanded that Jane Doe be able to exercise her right to end her pregnancy. But it’s also important for everyone to fully face up to the nightmare that this case portends. The Trump/Pence regime will not stop with this or that setback. They are intent on moving full steam ahead to consolidate their fascist grip, and as a key part of that, impose on women and girls everywhere what they tried to do to Jane Doe—unless they are driven from power through a sustained, mass upsurge demanding: This Nightmare Must End. The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!

A 17-year-old undocumented and unaccompanied minor, Jane Doe, was recently snatched up and imprisoned in a U.S. detention center. Trapped in a foreign land gripped by rising xenophobia, hundreds of miles from anything familiar, driven to flee by desperate conditions, it seemed the nightmare couldn’t get any worse.

Then, she discovered that she is pregnant.

In a just world, a pregnancy would be either a cause for joy or the reason to schedule a routine, perfectly safe and unstigmatized abortion. Fetuses are not babies, and there is absolutely no reason a woman should be prevented or shamed for getting an abortion.

In Trump/Pence America, however, the discovery of a pregnancy immediately plunged this young woman into an even darker rung of hell. A conspiracy of Christian fascist lunatics are exercising the full power of the federal government to reduce this very young woman to the status of an incubator, working relentlessly to force her to have a child against her will—and setting dangerous precedent that imperils the future of women and girls everywhere.

From the moment Jane Doe discovered her pregnancy, she was adamant that she wanted an abortion. Outrageously, in Texas (as in 21 other states), minors need consent from a parent or a judge to get an abortion. With the help of extraordinarily dedicated advocates, Jane Doe received this permission and scheduled an abortion on September 28.

Then, the Trump/Pence Regime blocked her from getting the abortion.

Scott Lloyd is the fanatical anti-abortion Christian fascist that Trump and Pence chose to head up the Office of Refugee Resettlement and thereby exercise the power of the state over the lives of refugees and immigrants detained by the government. Lloyd not only opposes abortion, he opposes birth control and once personally visited a detained young woman to pressure her into continuing an unwanted pregnancy.

In this case, the word got out at Jane Doe’s detention center that she was not to be released for her September 28 appointment. Instead, her captors forced her to visit a Christian fundamentalist anti-abortion fake “clinic” where she was forced to view an ultrasound. The detention center also called Jane Doe’s mother in her home country and informed her about the pregnancy despite Doe’s plea that her mother was physically abusive.

Eight states—Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, and South Carolina—all themselves gripped by Christian fascist theocrats, filed papers in court supporting Lloyd’s efforts.

Even after yet another court battle in which a federal judge ruled that Doe’s abortion must be allowed (rescheduled for October 20), the Trump/Pence Regime blocked her again. They refused to release her for her appointment and argued doing so didn’t put an “undue burden” on her constitutional right to abortion because Doe still had the “option” of being deported back her home country! Doe is from Central America—and in most countries in that region, abortion is illegal, including three countries where abortion is not allowed even when the life of the woman is at stake.

As each day Doe’s pregnancy advances ever closer to the unjust 20-week legal cutoff for abortions in Texas, her detention center has been further isolating and punishing Doe. Despite the risks to her emotional and physical health, they have prevented her from participating in any physical activity, for example forcing her to sit on a bench while other detained kids were allowed to play in a park.

As the case stands now, the regime insists that Doe will only be allowed to get an abortion if there is a sponsor appointed to her by October 31. Finding a sponsor for an unaccompanied and undocumented minor is a complicated process that usually involves months of searching and vetting. This is cruel, unnecessary, and untenable, and must not be allowed to stand.

Jane Doe is a vulnerable 17-year-old girl imprisoned and facing an unwanted pregnancy in a hostile land. She is a full human being, yet Christian fascists at the vicious core the Trump/Pence regime are using the full force of the most powerful state in the history of the world to reduce her to the status of an incubator. This is a nightmare that no one should tolerate. People must raise their voices and demand that this young woman be given access to her abortion now.

At the same time, millions need to open their eyes to the even greater nightmare this case portends. What is being done to Jane Doe is the future for women and girls everywhere if this fascist Trump/Pence regime is not very soon deprived of its hold over the state. The only way that can happen and lead to anything good for women, for immigrants, and for all of humanity is for thousands and soon millions to take to the streets in massive, sustained, nonviolent political protest that does not stop until one nonnegotiable demand is met: This Nightmare Must End: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go! There are many who would like to see this happen. There is one organization and movement, RefuseFascism.org, that is working and reaching out to people from all walks of life to involve them in making this happen—join with this movement today. November 4, take to the streets. In the name of humanity, we must refuse to accept this fascist America.

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