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WASHINGTON (AP) — A potential Supreme Court fight over whether a pregnant immigrant teenager in U.S. custody can have an abortion has been avoided for now.
In court papers filed Tuesday, the Trump administration says the teen was handed over to immigration authorities and released. That leaves her free to have an abortion if she chooses.
The Justice Department argued it had obtained the teen's birth certificate and it showed she is 19 years old, not 17.
That meant she would no longer be in the custody of the Health and Human Services Department office that oversees shelters that house immigrant children. In March, HHS's Office of Refugee Resettlement revised its policy to discourage and prohibit pregnant teens from having abortions.
The administration says the woman was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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