Pregnant women across the United States are standing up and joining forces to challenge President Donald Trump’s recent executive order that puts an end to birthright citizenship. These lawsuits are popping up in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington state, where expecting parents are fighting to protect a right they believe is firmly rooted in the Constitution.
Trump’s executive order, announced last week, has sparked a legal storm, with critics calling it “blatantly unconstitutional.” Federal judges seem to agree, as the order has already run into significant legal trouble. Adding to the pushback, attorneys general from 18 states, along with San Francisco and Washington, D.C., filed a joint lawsuit in federal court on January 21, arguing that the president’s move violates a long-standing principle of citizenship.
The lawsuit lays it all out: for over 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has guaranteed citizenship to anyone born in the United States and “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country. In fact, the Supreme Court confirmed over a century ago that even children born to noncitizen parents in the U.S. are automatically citizens.
Congress later strengthened this understanding through the Immigration and Nationality Act, and past presidential administrations have always recognized that denying citizenship in such cases would be unconstitutional. But now, according to the lawsuit, Trump is trying to rewrite this principle through executive action alone.
In Maryland, five pregnant women and two immigrant advocacy groups have filed their own lawsuit, calling Trump’s order a direct attack on the Fourteenth Amendment. They argue that citizenship is a fundamental right that has shaped American identity for generations, and no president has the power to take that away with the stroke of a pen.
Meanwhile, in Washington state, three pregnant women—Alicia Chavarria Lopez, Cherly Norales Castillo, and Delmy Franco Aleman—have teamed up with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project to file a class action lawsuit. They’re worried that under Trump’s order, babies born to undocumented parents in the U.S. could end up stateless, meaning they’d have no legal ties to any country. Their suit describes citizenship as a “marker of belonging” and warns of the chaos and heartbreak this order could cause for countless families.
These lawsuits don’t just target Trump. They also name key federal agencies and officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Social Security Administration. The suits argue that these institutions have a duty to uphold the Constitution, not to enforce a policy that undermines it.
Trump’s executive order rests on the argument that the Fourteenth Amendment has always excluded children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally, claiming they’re not truly “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country. But critics strongly disagree, pointing to the long history and clear language of the Constitution.
As these legal battles heat up, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The future of birthright citizenship—a cornerstone of American democracy—hangs in the balance. For now, these determined parents and advocacy groups are fighting to ensure that this fundamental right remains protected for generations to come.
