Commonwealth Catholic Charities Helps Illegal Immigrant Teen Get An Abortion in Apparent Violation of Hyde Amendment
According to a report in the Washington Times, a Richmond based Catholic Charity assisted an illegal immigrant, who is also a minor, obtain an abortion using federal funds in violation of the Hyde Amendment:
Workers with Commonwealth Catholic Charities helped the girl travel to and from the procedure in January and signed a consent form for the abortion, Joanne Nattrass, the charity’s executive director, said in a statement Thursday. She declined further comment. Four of the Richmond-based charity’s workers were fired, according to a letter by David Siegel, head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ refugee resettlement program. The federal department is looking into the charity’s actions and the role played by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The conference receives $7.6 million a year in federal funds to place unaccompanied illegal immigrant children in foster care until they’re reunited with relatives, sponsored, or returned to their homeland. The girl is from Guatemala but was living in Virginia when the abortion took place.
In a press release issued yesterday, the charity essentially admitted assisting the minor:
In January 2008, a minor in foster care in Richmond, procured an abortion while receiving support services from Commonwealth Catholic Charities (CCC). An investigation of this unfortunate event revealed that some members of CCC staff assisted the minor in preparations leading up to the abortion, and that one member of staff signed the consent form necessary for the minor to have the abortion. The minor was taken to and from the abortion facility by a person associated with CCC. Neither agency nor diocesan funds were used to pay for the procedure. A subsequent investigation also revealed that about two months prior to the abortion the minor had been assisted by CCC staff with implantation of a contraceptive device. Obviously, both the implantation of the contraceptive device and the abortion are contrary to basic teachings of the Catholic Church. This occurrence has also raised legal and other questions that have already been or are now being addressed.
The legal question raised by the charity’s involvment revolve around the Hyde Amendment and similar state laws barring the use of federal or state laws for abortions. For more information on federal and state laws banning public funds for abortion see here. One supposes that even for people confidently opposed to abortion on a theoretical level, abortion is nevertheless a complicated issue when it gets personal.
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