MORAL AUTHORITY

Nebraska Official Quits After Prison Tried to Block Inmate’s Abortion

Hayden Thomas said the correction department’s denial of an inmate’s abortion request was “reprehensible.”

A Nebraska prison official quit his job because the agency tried to block an inmate’s abortion—a move that was later overturned by the courts. The Omaha World-Herald reports that Hayden Thomas, a disabilities compliance coordinator with the state Department of Correctional Services called the denial of the woman’s request “reprehensible” and a “flagrant case of government not following the law.” The inmate became pregnant through a sexual assault before she was jailed and faced a ticking clock to get an abortion while it was still available to her. Thomas resigned just before a judge ordered the state to transport the 22-year-old inmate to her Planned Parenthood appointment. In a resignation letter, Thomas wrote: “How can we possibly claim the moral authority to incarcerate others for forsaking the rule of law if we ourselves fail to uphold it and instead choose to engage in acts of public corruption or administrative malfeasance?”