Office of Refugee Resettlement director Scott Lloyd spends his days trying to prevent immigrant women under his supervision from legally obtaining an abortion, but there was a time when he personally drove his pregnant girlfriend to obtain an abortion that he paid for.
Mother Jones obtained an assignment from a 2004 class at Catholic University that Lloyd participated in where he wrote that he willingly helped his girlfriend obtain an abortion even though he supposedly disagreed with it.
Scott Lloyd’s anti-abortion crusade began when, as a young man, he found himself faced with a partner’s unexpected pregnancy. Many years later, Lloyd would take his battle to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, where, as its leader since March 2017, he has personally intervened to block teenage migrants in federal custody, including at least one rape victim, from accessing abortions. But it was that summer day long ago that made him decide abortion is wrong under all circumstances, including rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is at risk. When asked about his plans for the day, he said he was going fishing; instead, he drove the young woman he had gotten pregnant to get the abortion he disagreed with. Years later, as a first-year law student at Catholic University, he described this formative experience in anguished detail in a class assignment provided to Mother Jones by a classmate and confirmed by seven others.
“The truth about abortion,” he wrote, “is that my first child is dead, and no woman, man, Supreme Court, or government—NOBODY—has the right to tell me that she doesn’t belong here.” [...]
In the essay, Lloyd recalled his shock and fear at learning the woman was pregnant. He described spending a sleepless week praying, seeking advice from friends, and reading the Bible. He wanted to put the baby up for adoption, and he and the woman argued when she told him she’d had already arranged for an abortion. The next day, Lloyd drove to pick up the woman for her appointment, still hoping to convince her otherwise. She had asked him to pay for half the procedure.
In addition to driving and partially paying for the procedure, Lloyd also sat in the lobby of the clinic and waited while it was done.
Maybe Lloyd had a Come to Jesus moment after this, but these don't seem like the actions of someone who was exceptionally opposed to the idea in all circumstances. They seem like the actions of someone who was desperate, as most people who obtain abortions are. No one gleefully obtains an abortion because they enjoy it; they do so because they feel like it's their best choice or only choice.
That's almost certainly true for immigrants under Lloyd's supervision who he would force to give birth in some of the worst circumstances imaginable. And he would apparently force them to do that because of his own guilt.
I struggle to think of anything more arrogant and selfish than a male government official telling defenseless women that they can't obtain an abortion just because he's feeling guilty about his own actions.
This man should not be anywhere near a position of power.