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A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the government to allow a pregnant 17-year-old immigrant, who was detained after entering the country illegally, to undergo an abortion. After a brief hearing that included a testy exchange with government lawyers, Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered the government to move "promptly and without delay" to transport the teenager or allow her to be transported by others to the nearest abortion provider. (10/18)

Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the pregnant teen, cheered the judge’s ruling as a major victory for abortion and immigrant rights. “We never should have had to fight this in the first place,” said Brigitte Amiri, a senior ACLU staff attorney who argued the case on Wednesday. “It should never have been something that we needed to go to court over.” (Sacchetti, 10/18)

At a hearing Wednesday, a lawyer for Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions had suggested that because the woman was not legally a U.S. resident, she was not covered by the constitutional right to end her pregnancy. U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan rebuked the government lawyers at the hearing. Her order directs officials to transport Jane Doe to the clinic of her choice and allow her to obtain an abortion by Saturday. (Lauter, 10/18)

"Janes everywhere are rejoicing that their dignity and humanity have been recognized and respected by the federal court," Susan Hays, legal director of Jane's Due Process — a legal referral source for teens facing unintended pregnancies in Texas — said in a prepared statement. (Wang, 10/18)

In late September, a Texas court granted her request to get an abortion without her parents’ approval, according to the state’s “judicial bypass” provision. But officials at the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement blocked Doe from leaving the South Texas shelter where she’s being held, sending her instead to a religious crisis pregnancy center. The government is required to provide healthcare for immigrant minors in its custody, and has paid to help girls end pregnancies that resulted from incest or rape, an ever-present risk for those crossing north from Central America. (Michels, 10/18)

The Trump administration is appealing a judge's order requiring that the government allow an undocumented pregnant minor in a federally funded Texas shelter receive an abortion. (Rayasam, 10/18)

A Jackson County judge on Wednesday took under advisement Planned Parenthood’s request to block a Missouri law requiring that abortion physicians meet with their patients three days before they undergo the procedure. The law, enacted this summer during a special session of the Missouri Legislature called by Gov. Eric Greitens, is set to take effect Oct. 24. The two Planned Parenthood affiliates in Missouri and two obstetrician-gynecologists at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis sued last week to have the law declared unconstitutional under the Missouri Constitution and sought a temporary restraining order blocking it. (Margolies, 10/18)