The Biden administration issued a directive Thursday ordering that pregnant migrant girls in federal custody are housed in states that allow abortion.
The guidance, issued by the US Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), instructs officials to avoid placing pregnant unaccompanied minors in Republican states that restrict the procedure and transfer girls in these states to states where abortion is still legal.
ORR is in charge of housing unaccompanied children without legal status and issued guidance to staff; says they “must make every reasonable effort” to give pregnant migrants access to abortion if they request it.
“This may involve transporting a minor to a state where abortion is legal and available, if the minor is currently in a state where abortion is not legal or available,” it says.
ORR has already relocated an unknown number of pregnant unaccompanied minors to states where abortion is still legal, a representative told CBS News.
If there are limited beds in unrestricted states, the memo tells intake workers to “use their discretion and professional judgment and available information.” to place minors in the least restrictive option.
The new directive comes in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade, leading several conservative states to place restrictions on abortions.
There are fewer than 10,000 unaccompanied minors in federal custody as of Wednesday and only a small fraction are known to be pregnant, a spokesperson told the outlet.
The order adds new guidelines after the office previously directed staff to try to avoid placing pregnant migrants in Texas, which passed a law to ban most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
The ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project applauded the decision but said the Biden administration should expand its effort to include people in other types of custody, including in prison or in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. ) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
“Abortion bans in places like Texas not only ban access to abortion, but also some miscarriage care,” deputy director Brigitte Amiri said in a statement on the group’s website.