Stephanie Carter, a nurse practitioner at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center in Temple, Texas, filed a lawsuit Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, against the Department of Veterans Affairs over a new rule providing for abortions and counseling for abortion at VA medical facilities. (Department of Veterans Affairs)
AUSTIN, Texas — A nurse practitioner working at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Texas has filed a lawsuit against the agency, claiming the AV’s policy of providing abortions and abortion counseling to veterans goes against his religious beliefs and violates federal law.
“It is unconscionable that the Biden administration is forcing healthcare workers at VA facilities to violate their conscience,” said Danielle Runyan, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, a conservative law firm that filed the lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of of the nurse practitioner, Stephanie. Carter.
VA Secretary Denis McDonough issued an agency rule in September to allow the VA to provide access to abortion counseling and abortions to pregnant veterans and VA beneficiaries in cases where the life or health of the pregnant Veteran would be endangered if the pregnancy were carried to term, or where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
The VA rule was implemented after the Supreme Court this summer overturned Roe v. Wade, who had guaranteed a federal right to abortion for nearly 50 years. This sparked a wave of abortion bans and restrictions across the country. In Texas, abortions are prohibited at around six weeks of pregnancy.
The VA had not previously provided abortion services, but changed course in September “after listening to health care providers and VA veterans across the country, who raised the alarm that Abortion restrictions create a medical emergency for those we serve,” Dr. Shereef Elnahal, VA’s undersecretary of health, said in a statement.
The lawsuit argues that Carter, an Army veteran and 23-year-old VA employee, cannot follow the new rule because it violates a 1992 federal law that prevents the VA from providing abortions, violates his religious beliefs according to which unborn children must be protected, and puts her at risk under abortion laws in Texas, where she is licensed and works at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center in Temple.
“Because of her religious beliefs, Ms. Carter cannot perform, prescribe or counsel abortions, nor work in a facility that provides abortion services for reasons other than to save the life of the mother because, in her view, unborn babies are created in the image of God and should be protected,” the lawsuit states.
The Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 excluded abortions from the medical care the VA could provide. But the Veterans Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996 allowed the VA to provide hospital care and medical services deemed necessary.
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel recently issued an advisory that VA employees are protected from state abortion laws that may be more restrictive because they are federal employees.
Carter, who is a Christian, said her supervisor told her on Oct. 28 that the religious exemption process was not yet in place, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, asks the court to declare that the rule violates her religious freedom rights, bar the rule from applying to her, and pay her attorney fees.
Terrence Hayes, a VA spokesperson, said McDonough “made it clear to all employees that their religious beliefs are protected here at VA.”
While he can’t comment on the ongoing litigation, Hayes said there are accommodations for employees to refuse to provide abortion counseling or services that are available upon request from supervisors.
“We have provided all VA healthcare employees with this information – including information on how to exercise these protections through the Office of Resolution, Diversity and Inclusion Management. VA — and we encouraged employees to notify their supervisors of any waiver requests,” he said.
#healthcare #worker #sues #agency #policy #provide #abortions #abortion #counseling