Aussie traveller questioned about abortion history before deported from US

An Australian woman travelling to Canada has said she was repeatedly asked if she had had an abortion before being deported during a stopover in the US.

Brisbane resident, Madolline Gourley told the Guardian she was detained during a transit through Los Angeles by US border officials who were suspicious about her intention to house- and cat-sit in exchange for accommodation while holidaying in Canada.

The 32-year-old had intended to volunteer through the house- and cat-sitting website TrustedHouseSitters during a trip to Montreal when she was held in a detention room, fingerprinted, photographed, patted down and interrogated twice.

Gourley said she was asked by a US border official if she was pregnant twice and if she had had an abortion.

“She was walking me from one room to the next, and she asked the pregnancy question again,” Gourley told Guardian Australia.

“I don’t know if she had forgotten, or she wanted to work out if I was lying or something. I said no, and she looked at me again and said, ‘Have you recently had an abortion?’.

“I don’t know the thought process behind that … I just thought, ‘What’s the relevance of that to my situation?’”

Five hours after arriving in Los Angeles, Gourley was told she would not be granted entry to the US and would be deported on the next flight back to Brisbane for breaching the conditions of the visa waiver program.

The program, which applies to Australians making short visits to the US for business or tourism, prohibits applicants from engaging in employment or receiving compensation for services.

Gourley said she had used the website to house- and cat-sit in exchange for accommodation in the US in the past with no issues and was taken by surprise to find the visa waiver applied to such services.

She said border officials were suspicious that her boarding passes for connecting flights to Philadelphia and Montreal had not been printed when she checked in for her flights and asked her to hand over bank statements.

She told officials she planned to come back to the US after a month in Canada and also had a return ticket to Australia.

According to the Guardian, Gourley complained to the US embassy and US homeland security as well as her local member, Libby Watson-Brown and foreign affairs minister Penny Wong.

Watson-Brown said, regardless of the US’ regulations, Gourley was subjected to “completely unacceptable behaviour” from US border officials.

“Madolline Gourley deserves an apology from US Customs and Border Protection and clarification on how this impacts her future travel to the US.”

A spokesperson for the US Customs and Border Protection said it took unprofessional behaviour seriously.

“CBP regrets any inconvenience or unpleasantness a passenger may have experienced during his/her CBP processing,” the spokesperson told the Guardian.

“CBP has standard procedures for handling allegations of misconduct. If we confirm employee misconduct, we will take firm and appropriate action to correct the situation.”

Gourley runs a travel blog called One Cat At A Time, documenting her travels around the US and Australia saving money on accommodation by house- and cat-sitting.

According to CNBC, she saved roughly $41.5 thousand in travel expenses by caring for cats across 50 homes during her travels.

Image: Instagram/madolline