ACLU lawsuit relates to Va. abortion

BY JUAN ANTONIO LIZAMA
Media General News Service
Published: November 18, 2008

The American Civil Liberties Union asked for a court order Monday to force the federal government to release documents outlining its policy regarding reproductive-health services for unaccompanied and refugee children in its custody.

The ACLU claims that the Administration for Children and Families, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, issued a more restrictive policy after it became public that a 16-year-old under the care of Commonwealth Catholic Charities in Henrico County had an abortion in January and that some staff members assisted her.

“Refusing to provide access and referral to reproductive-health care can further traumatize these teens, many of whom have already endured physical and psychological pain and suffering,“ says an ACLU injunction request filed Monday with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Kenneth J. Wolfe, spokesman for Health and Human Services, said: “We have not seen the lawsuit, so we can’t comment on that yet.“

After news of the abortion became public, David H. Siegel, acting director of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, issued a memo on March 21 that addressed the medical policy of the Division of Unaccompanied Children’s Services.

Siegel wrote that serious medical services, including abortions, require heightened involvement from the Office of Refugee Resettlement and “limited decision-making by grantees” such as Commonwealth Catholic Charities.

The government contracts with various entities that provide short- and long-term services to the children while their cases are resolved.

In fiscal 2007, the Office of Refugee Resettlement reported having 1,000 to 1,600 children in the program.

The teen from Guatemala who had the abortion is under the Commonwealth Catholic Charities’ unaccompanied-children program, which gets its funding from the $7.6 million the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops receives from the federal government for the children’s care. The program serves children who have no lawful immigration status in the U.S. and no parent or legal guardian here.

Ten Catholic dioceses across the country, including Richmond’s, found foster homes for 190 unaccompanied children in fiscal 2008, which ended in September.

After the abortion, Commonwealth Catholic Charities fired four staff members, saying they violated Catholic teachings. Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo admitted having knowledge of the abortion, but he said that employees misled him. He apologized for the abortion.

Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael N. Herring investigated the matter and found that a fired staff member who signed the consent form for the abortion was not authorized to do so. He did not file charges against the employee because he found no criminal intent.

Commonwealth Catholic Charities has said that neither it nor the Catholic Diocese of Richmond paid for the abortion.

Court documents show the ACLU filed Freedom of Information Act requests in August with the Administration for Children and Families for details of the governments’ and its contractors’ provisions on reproductive-health care for refugee and unaccompanied teens. The ACLU has not received the documents, according to court documents.