Judge Tanya Chutkan is two months removed from giving a 17-year-old illegal immigrant permission to abort her child. Now the judge is seeing to it that other illegal minors are free to follow the same path. This week she extended her reckless and highly unconstitutional precedent to other border-crossers who are seeking to end their unwanted pregnancies.

According to The Washington Times, “In this latest case, Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered the Health and Human Services Department to transport the girls [both 17 years old] to an abortion facility, told them not to tell anyone else about the abortions, and ordered them not to retaliate against the girls for their decision. The judge said she was acting to preserve the girls’ ‘constitutional right to decide whether to carry their pregnancies to term — including their right to change their minds regarding the same.’”

The Trump administration is correct in that what Judge Chutkan asserts is a “constitutional right” for youngsters who are in this country illegally is actually a flagrant rejection of the rules pertaining to abortion. This is also known as judicial activism. Judge Chutkan used the same terrible logic in October when she originated the precedent. That ruling was upheld by the DC Circuit Court. Both Judge Chutkan and the DC court are wrong.

For starters, the two teens are non-citizens. Moreover, the Hyde Amendment is supposed to shield taxpayers from funding the abortion mill, which the Justice Department is attempting to enforce via appeal. As the Times adds, “The Trump administration says facilitating an abortion would mean spending federal taxpayers’ money to transport them and provide follow-up care — both of which, the government says, would violate federal laws that generally prevent taxpayers’ money from going to abortions.”

At this point, the Supreme Court must intervene to stop this egregious abuse, and Trump officials are hoping it’ll do just that, as the justices have been formally asked to intercede. It’s bad enough that illegal immigrants are getting “rights” even Americans don’t have. And if our courts can’t uphold the Hyde Amendment when it comes to abortion-seeking illegal immigrants, why should Americans be expected to oblige?

As far as the immigration issue goes, we shouldn’t even be debating the permitting of abortion. And we certainly shouldn’t be setting precedents that undermine existing laws to which citizens are subject. This whole issue underscores the importance of Donald Trump’s reshaping the appeals courts.

Update: To demonstrate just how bad the gaming of the system is, The Washington Times now reports: “The Trump administration said late Tuesday that it had released a pregnant 19-year-old illegal immigrant woman into the community on her own recognizance, freeing her to obtain an abortion on her own. The move was aimed at freeing the government from any obligation to facilitate the abortion with taxpayer money. … The woman was able to lie about her age, claiming to be 17 and eligible for lenient treatment, until her demand for an abortion became an issue. Security analysts said it’s part of a growing problem of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) lying about their ages. ‘They use this as a way to get into the United States and live here for years after having gamed the system this way,’ said Jessica Vaughan, policy studies director for the Center for Immigration Studies.”