Two pregnant women, one in North Carolina and one in South Carolina, face potentially fractured paths for their babies after the Supreme Court limited judges’ ability to issue nationwide orders blocking the Trump administration’s plan to end birthright citizenship.
For women not yet a part of the lawsuits, the consequences would be even more dire, said Kursten Phelps, litigation counsel at the Tahirih Justice Center, a nonprofit organization offering legal and social services to immigrant women and girls.
Phelps said the Tahirih Justice Center has a client who is a pregnant Latin American immigrant in her 20s in Texas who is seeking legal status but has not been granted a decision yet. She and her husband are from different Latin American countries, further complicating the situation.
“If things hold as they are now, her child who is due this fall would likely not be considered a citizen when he’s born,” she said.
Phelps said the woman is terrified about what will happen if her son is born a noncitizen.
“She’s really stressed out, and her mind starts going to places like could my newborn son be deported? If they did, where would he get deported to? Is it going to be so bad that I should give my child up for adoption to sort of protect him?” she said.
