Exclusive: She Helped Plan Her Teen's Abortion, So CPS Took Her Daughter Away

Child protective services is being used as an anti-abortion weapon in banned and pro-choice states

Abortion, Every Day has learned that Child Protective Services (CPS) has targeted mothers in multiple states who helped their daughters seek out abortions. In one case, CPS removed a teen from her home—and threatened her mother with murder charges—to stop her from getting an abortion. Another mother, one who lives in a state where abortion is legal, faced an investigation from both CPS and local police after helping her teen end a pregnancy.

These stories—shared with AED by the attorneys and advocates at If/When/How—represent a new and largely unexamined consequence of the end of Roe. It’s no longer enough that women have to worry they’ll die of sepsis while surrounded by doctors that can’t legally treat them, or that they’ll be arrested for how they dispose of their miscarriages. Now the government is using family separation as an anti-abortion weapon—and women will fear that simply helping their daughters get care could mean losing their children.

---

This piece is part of an Abortion, Every Day package. Read the accompanying profile of If/When/How’s work by Kylie here.

---

Because If/When/How’s clients fear reprisals from the state, I’m sharing as little identifying information as possible. We’ll start with a mother called Jane and her 14-year-old daughter, Dana¹; the pair live in a Southern state where abortion is banned.

As is often the case with scared teens, Dana didn’t tell her mother that she was pregnant right away. That means by the time they started looking for abortion clinics, every single day counted. They did the difficult and time-consuming work of finding and booking an appointment with an out-of-state clinic, getting financial assistance from a practical support fund (the excellent Brigid Alliance), and planning to leave within days.

Jane doesn’t know who called the authorities, just that CPS knocked on their door and took a terrified Dana from their home. If/When/How legal services director Kylee Sunderlin tells me that this removal was done extrajudicially, without a court order.

The CPS caseworker also repeatedly threatened Jane, claiming she’d be charged with murder if Dana had an abortion—and that her other child, a toddler, would be taken from her care.

I want to pause for a moment and really ask you to imagine the horror of this. You are a single mother of two children, living in poverty, and trying to do what’s best for your young daughter. You’re already dealing with the trauma of having to take your teen out of state for medical care that you can’t afford—then a state agent threatens to take your children and jail you for life.

All of that, just for seeking out legal abortion care. Because remember—bringing your child across state lines to end their pregnancy is not illegal anywhere in America. But what the law says on paper and what law enforcement does are two very different things. (Just ask the women who’ve been arrested for flushing their miscarriages or taking abortion pills.)

So how did authorities get around the law to take Dana from her home? They relied on ‘coercion’—the anti-abortion movement’s fastest-growing legal and messaging strategy. In short, Jane was told that CPS believed she was forcing her daughter into having an abortion.

The teen was only returned home after Jane contacted If/When/How, retained counsel, and explained that the clinics required Dana to speak to them herself before booking an appointment. But that process took four days—a lifetime when you’re seeking abortion care.

“By the time she was returned home on the fifth day, the appointment date had passed,” Sunderlin says. “The travel arrangements and support had passed.”

Republicans have assured voters over and over again that the end of Roe didn’t endanger women and girls’ right to travel—but what happened to Dana is effectively a government-enforced travel ban.

This state trapped a teen, separated her from her family, kept her from the support services she had in place, and stopped her from getting planned and scheduled abortion care. What else would you call it?

Anti-abortion legislators have already passed informal abortion bans targeting the most vulnerable among us, like teenagers. Idaho and Tennessee, for example, passed laws that would make it illegal to lend a teen gas money to leave the state for abortion; even sharing the url to a clinic would be a felony. Thankfully, those parts of the laws have been blocked by the courts, but Republicans across the country continue to attack young people’s ability to access abortions—whether it’s forced parental involvement laws, the decimation of sex education, or advancing legislation that targets pro-choice websites or could require age-verification for vital sexual health information.

But as is the case with other attacks on reproductive health, it’s not always the law that curbs access—but fear. Republicans won’t need laws criminalizing out-of-state abortion travel if they can use the threat of family separation to terrify parents into submission.

This isn’t only happening in banned states. Another If/When/How client faced a CPS and police investigation in a Midwestern pro-choice state. In fact, they live in a state where abortion is constitutionally protected.

In this case, the mother—who I’ll call Farrah—brought her daughter to the emergency room after helping her obtain a medication abortion. The 17-year-old developed a fever a few days after her pregnancy ended, and Farrah made the smart and informed decision to seek out medical care in case her daughter had an infection.

Again, all perfectly legal. Because they had broken no laws, Farrah didn’t think twice about sharing the fact that her daughter had an abortion. She figured, as many would, that it was important to tell healthcare providers all of the information possible.

It wasn’t long, however, before Farrah was being interrogated by a hospital social worker, who wanted to know where they had obtained the abortion pills. “There was no legitimate reason for the questioning,” Sunderlin tells me.

Since the end of Roe, it’s become more common for law enforcement or hospital staff to question patients about their pregnancy losses. (Who could forget Brittany Watts in Ohio being interrogated by police while still tethered to her hospital bed with an IV?)

Farrah didn’t like the tone of the social worker’s questions—they made her uncomfortable—so she called If/When/How. And it’s lucky she did: that hospital social worker called CPS and police, and both agencies opened investigations.

Once again, the idea of ‘coercion’ was raised, so the mother and daughter were given separate attorneys. If/When/How connected them with local counsel and supported them throughout the horrific process.

Because Farrah was able to access help quickly, the CPS and police investigations ended up being closed—but not before she and her daughter were put through hell. Sunderlin says:

“The reality is that people in these situations are incredibly vulnerable. CPS digs through every aspect of your life. They can strip-search your children, go through your cupboards, access your mental health history. And if you seek justice afterward, families often fear retaliation and further separation.”

And remember, when a state opens an investigation into a family—whether a child is taken from her home or a mother is simply questioned—that exists in state records forever.

These attacks on mothers come at the same time that Republicans are going all in on “parental rights” rhetoric—claiming that the state shouldn’t insert itself in decisions best made by parents. That’s the messaging they use to keep books that mention gay people out of school libraries, and how they try to get around vaccine mandates.

But when it comes to abortion, the state is in charge. And if a mother helps her daughter get care—something that mothers have done for millennia—they’re to be punished. (A Nebraska mother was sentenced to prison for helping her daughter get an abortion, and mothers in Pennsylvania and Louisiana are facing charges for the same.)

Sunderlin tells me that we’re just starting to scratch the surface with these cases. There are many more we’re not hearing about, and may never hear about.

At the end of the day, this is not about a handful of rogue CPS agents or hospital workers; this is systemic and fueled by anti-abortion stigma. “We’ve spoken to family defense attorneys in New York where abortions—or allegations of attempted abortion—show up in petitions against parents,” Sunderlin says. “It’s pervasive.”

When I ask how Jane and Dana are doing, Sunderlin says not so great. You see, after forcing Dana to give birth, CPS opened up an investigation into the teen for being a young mother.

If/When/How was able to help the mother and daughter through yet another nightmare state investigation. But this kind of family policing is the point—and it’s what happens when the state is more invested in punishing abortion than protecting children.

If you’d like to support Jane and Dana, please donate here. For free legal help as a patient or health practitioner, call If/When/How’s free Repro Helpline: 844-868-2812

---

If you or someone you know has seen abortion or pregnancy loss raised in a child welfare case or investigation, contact FLASH@georgetown.edu to contribute to the research the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law is conducting with If/When/How.

1. These, of course, are pseudonyms.