ACLU wants info on refugee abortions

NEW YORK, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- The American Civil Liberties Union is seeking records on the U.S. government's policy on providing reproductive healthcare to unaccompanied refugee children.

The group says that the government's policy has become more restrictive following publicity about a 16-year-old from Guatemala getting an abortion earlier this year, the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch reports. The teenager was in the care of Commonwealth Catholic Charities of Virginia at the time.

The ACLU filed a request for an injunction Monday with a federal court in New York.

"Refusing to provide access and referral to reproductive healthcare can further traumatize these teens, many of whom have already endured physical and psychological pain and suffering," the group said in court papers.

Publicity about the abortion led to the firing of four Catholic Charities employees for violating church teaching.

In March, David H. Siegel, acting director of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement, issued a memo in March saying that the Office of Refugee Resettlement should be involved in decisions on major medical procedures, including abortion.