Being pro-life could cost you a job.
The federal government has laws to protect those suffering from gender discrimination. It is unlawful to harass a person based on sex or race. It is unlawful to harass a person because of religious beliefs.
How does this work for pro-life people? Are they protected because of their religious beliefs?
A pediatric nurse in Illinois was dismissed for declining to participate in abortions in 2015. Sandra Mendoza sued the Winnebago County Health Department in 2016 stating “I’m called to do no harm.” Another Christian nurse was discharged by the National Health Service in Great Britain for sharing pro-life beliefs with colleagues in 2012. She reportedly settled out of court against her former employers.
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is representing a nurse who didn’t get a job because of her pro-life stance. Cynthia Isabell was a nurse in South Bend, Indiana. She applied for a faculty job at Indiana University South Bend. The position was to teach other nurses in a clinical setting that had zilch to do with abortion.
Here’s the kicker.
She was grilled during her interview about her pro-life beliefs from the assistant dean of nursing who was formally an employee of Planned Parenthood.
Jordan Sekulow, the Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) said, “The reaction of the search committee members to this grilling of Cindy was unanimous. It was unfair to Cindy. One member told a friend later that day that she had never felt that her own (pro-life) position on abortion could cost her job at IUSB until she witnessed what had happened to Cindy. It’s a blatant retaliation against her for exercising her First Amendment rights. And for simply being pro-life.”
Employers can’t discriminate against anti-abortion medical practitioners, a law on the books since 1973. However, the law won’t enable victims to file a civil suit against establishments discriminating against them.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a final ruling in 2019 regarding healthcare workers who refuse to participate in procedures. Medical professionals can opt-out of procedures like assisted suicides, abortions and sterilizations, which violate their personal or religious beliefs.
“This administration shows itself to be determined to use religious liberty to harm communities it deems less worthy of equal treatment under the law,” Louise Melling, Deputy Legal Director at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.
Melling is missing the point.
If a person needs medical attention to save a life, healthcare workers are legally obligated to save the patient. No health professional would refuse care to someone who is ill, regardless of faith, race or sexual orientation. That’s just another fear-mongering tactic used. To say the new ruling uses “religious liberty to harm communities it deems less worthy of equal treatment under the law” is baloney — a poor excuse.
Doctors, legislators and healthcare workers are standing together against Planned Parenthood and other life-wing organizations supporting late-term abortions. They’re afraid to share their views or oppose wrongful acts. If they do, the pink slip follows. Now they have a fighting chance under the final ruling. Christians shouldn’t lose their jobs and positions if they oppose conducting an abortion. Being pro-life is not a sin — it’s our God-given right.
–Written by Corine Gatti-Santillo