Discrimination Over Hospital Abortion Policy

"New Jersey nurses charge religious discrimination over hospital abortion policy," The Washington Post, by Rob Stein. November 27, 2011--A dozen nurses in New Jersey have rekindled the contentious debate over when healthcare workers can refuse to play a role in caring for women getting abortions. In a lawsuit filed in federal court Oct. 31, 12 nurses charge that the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey violated state and federal laws by abruptly announcing in September that nurses would have to help with abortion patients before and after the procedure, reversing a long-standing policy exempting employees who refuse based on religious or moral objections.

For decades, most states, including New Jersey, have had laws protecting nurses and other healthcare workers who have moral objections to participating in abortions. In addition, federal laws, such as the Church Amendment, require healthcare facilities that receive taxpayer money to permit workers to refuse on ethical grounds. On Nov. 3, U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares granted a request for a temporary restraining order barring the hospital from requiring the nurses to undergo training to care for abortion patients, pending a Dec. 5 hearing on the case, which involves 12 of the 16 nurses who work in the hospital’s same-day surgery unit. Matt Bowman, an attorney representing the nurses, said he had received an email from a lawyer for the hospital arguing that no laws had been broken, because the nurses are required to care for abortion patients only before and after the procedure. Bowman argued that requiring the nurses to get involved before and after an abortion violated their right to refuse based on their conscientious objections.

The hospital argued that “the routine, peripheral care that plaintiffs are now expected to provide. . . cannot reasonably be construed as assisting in the performance of abortions” and that state and federal laws do not apply. The hospital also denied having threatened to dismiss any of the nurses. Officials had offered to accommodate the nurses’ objections by transferring them elsewhere, according to the brief. In February, President Obama rescinded most of a controversial federal regulation put in place by President George W. Bush to protect healthcare workers who refuse to provide care they find objectionable on moral or religious grounds. The rule was widely interpreted as shielding workers who object to a range of medical services, such as playing any role whatsoever in abortions, providing birth control pills or even performing in vitro fertilization for lesbians or single women. Bowman would not say whether he planned to file a complaint, but he said the original Bush regulation might have helped protect the nurses. “The more regulations that exist to enforce federal law protecting conscience rights, the better,” Bowman said.

Legal Counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund Matt Bowman: "The UMDNJ case of forcing nurses to assist abortions is just one of many cases that the Alliance Defense Fund has handled around the country involving medical professionals being coerced to violate their religious beliefs. These cases represent a broader movement to disqualify anyone adhering to Hippocratic principles from medicine. The abortion providers at UMDNJ contend, contrary to federal and state law, that they can completely ban pro-life nurses from any medical department where they might encounter an abortion, including outpatient, OB/Gyn, emergency care and others. UMDNJ further claims that laws broadly protecting health professionals from performing or assisting abortions mean almost nothing, because abortionists have the right to define 'assist' and 'abortion' so narrowly and arbitrarily that pro-life professionals can be forced to participate in almost every aspect of an abortion case.

"Abortionists can also declare even elective abortions to be 'emergencies' in order to trump conscience laws. ADF is committed to defend medical professionals across the country from being coerced to choose between their faith and their profession. If you as a healthcare professional have been coerced to choose between your faith and profession, call 1-800-TELL-ADF or go to http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/."

Action Items
After seeking legal counsel, you can also report your incident of discrimination to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services through CMA's Freedom2Care website

Resources
Discrimination Stories
Healthcare Right of Conscience