A mix of anti-abortion advocates and pro-abortion rights advocates rally outside of the Supreme Court during the March for Life, January 27 in Washington, DC. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images Appeals court temporarily halts order allowing abortion for teen immigration detainee Acting with unusual haste, D.C. Circuit panel sets oral arguments for Friday.

A federal appeals court in Washington has temporarily halted a judge's order requiring the federal government to allow a pregnant, 17-year-old immigration detainee in Texas to get an abortion.

A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order Thursday setting an unusually hastily scheduled oral argument session on the case for Friday morning. It also put on hold part of a lower court judge's order that told officials to make arrangements for the teen to receive an abortion on either Friday or Saturday of this week.


Over the objection of the Trump administration, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday instructing federal officials to permit the girl to receive counseling and an ultrasound test required by Texas law on Thursday and to allow her to undergo the abortion procedure later this week.

The appeals court's directive requires officials to allow the counseling to take place, but temporarily lifts the portion of the order requiring officials to allow the abortion itself.

The D.C. Circuit panel's order said the judges acted to allow themselves time to review the case and make a decision on the Justice Department's urgent appeal of the lower court's ruling.

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"The purpose of this administrative stay is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency motion for stay and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion," the D.C. Circuit order said.

The appeals court's action draws more attention to what appears to be a dramatic policy change by the Trump administration, blocking underage immigration detainees from accessing abortions.

The girl, identified in court papers only as Jane Doe, obtained a Texas judge's permission on Sept. 25 and had an initial abortion appointment scheduled for Sept. 28, at the end of her first trimester, according to a lawyer for the girl.

But officials at the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, refused to transport her to her abortion appointment, instead taking her to a crisis pregnancy center and calling her mother in her home country to tell her about the pregnancy.

Attorneys for the girl initially asked a Texas state judge for relief, then approached a San Francisco federal judge assigned to a pre-existing case about the treatment of minors in immigration detention. The latter judge instructed the attorneys to file their request in U.S. District Court in Washington.

In a motion filed Wednesday night with the appeals court, Justice Department lawyers cited the government's interest in "fetal life and childbirth" as grounds for blocking the lower court's order.

The D.C. Circuit panel assigned to the case, at least at its earliest stage, leans Republican, with two GOP appointees and one Democrat. Considering the emergency stay motion are Judge Karen Henderson, a George H.W. Bush appointee; Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a George W. Bush appointee; and Judge Patricia Millett, an Obama appointee.

Renuka Rayasam contributed to this report.