The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 6-3 that the 17-year-old girl, identified as J.D. and represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, does not need to secure a sponsor or leave the country in order to end her pregnancy.
All six judges in the majority were named to the court by Democratic presidents, while those dissenting were Republicans' nominees. Similarly, the three-judge panel that sided with the government last Friday was tilted 2-1 in favor of Republicans.
"Today’s decision rights a grave constitutional wrong by the government," Judge Patricia Millett, who had dissented from Friday's decision, wrote. "Remember, we are talking about a child here. A child who is alone in a foreign land. A child who, after her arrival here in a search for safety and after the government took her into custody, learned that she is pregnant."
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