A Christian healthcare worker is suing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) over new federal rule she says would require her to participate in abortions at the VA clinic where she works, in violation of her religious beliefs and state law.
First Liberty Institute filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas on behalf of Stephanie Carter, a nurse practitioner at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center in Temple, Texas, who has worked for the VA for 23 years. The complaint urges the court to block the enforcement of a new Biden administration abortion rule at the Texas facility and accuses the VA of violating the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
As the lawsuit details, the VA introduced a new interim final rule titled “Reproductive Health Services” following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision and provided no time for notice and comment before it went into effect on Sept. 9, 2022. The rule allows elective abortions at VA medical facilities, despite a rule by Congress in the Veterans Health Care Act prohibiting VA clinics from providing elective abortions.
The rule also makes no mention of religious accommodations and “purports to shield VA health care professionals from State law liability for performing or participating in abortions and abortion counseling,” the complaint states.
“The Rule fails to explain any clear statutory or constitutional authority for the VA to supplant State licensure or health care laws,” it continues. “The Rule makes no mention of religious exemptions or accommodations to its requirements, despite the rule’s obvious implications for religious health care professionals who cannot perform or counsel for abortions.”
Following the VA’s issuance of the rule, Carter asked VA officials for a religious accommodation from participating in abortions, only to be informed that no such process for accommodation exists, the lawsuit alleges. Carter says she will not “perform, prescribe, or counsel for abortion services because of her sincerely held religious beliefs that unborn babies are created in the image of God and should be protected.”
“[She] believes, for both religious and medical reasons, that abortion poses medical harms to the unborn child and mother. Because of her religious beliefs, Ms. Carter cannot work in a facility that performs abortions for reasons other than to save the life of the mother,” the complaint states, adding that Carter “risks prosecution and civil liability under Texas law” if she performs or assists in abortions.
Danielle Runyan, Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute, said “it is unconscionable that the Biden administration would force health care workers at VA facilities to violate their consciences.”
“The VA should be focused on caring for the men and women who bravely served to protect our country, not on performing illegal abortions. The new VA Rule disregards longstanding federal law that prohibits VA clinics from performing abortions and fails to account for the sincerely held religious beliefs of medical providers who are impacted by the Rule,” Runyan continued. “The VA’s enforcement of the Rule at the Temple, Texas facility also subjects Ms. Carter to potential criminal and civil liability under Texas State law.”
Roughly 50 pro-life groups sent a letter to the U.S. House and Senate on the same day the lawsuit was filed, warning that taxpayers could end up funding abortions by VA under the Biden administration rule. The letter details how a portion of the $71 million increase in funding from appropriations bills (totaling $911 million) for the Office of Women’s Health at the VA will be used to “underwrite the transformation of veteran’s health facilities into abortion centers” under an interim final rule (IFR) which provides funding for abortion by the VA.
The coalition of pro-life groups, including March for Life Action, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and Live Action, wrote that the “blatant disregard for the law and the will of the people is just one in a series of efforts by the current administration to appease the demands of the radical abortion lobby.”
“The administration is flagrantly disregarding federal law in their rush to impose abortion on demand until birth at taxpayer expense throughout all fifty states. Now, Congress must consider whether to reward these actions with more hard-earned taxpayer dollars,” the letter concludes.
The case is Carter v. McDonough, Case No. 22-cv-1275 in the United States District Court Western District of Texas.
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