The University of Vermont Medical Center has been referred to the U.S. Department of Justice for enforcement after a thorough investigation of UVMMC’s violation of the conscience protection laws known as the Church Amendments.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights announced the move Dec. 16 in a press release.
OCR concluded that “UVMMC unlawfully forced a nurse to assist in an elective abortion procedure over the nurse’s conscience-based objections and has refused to change its policies to prevent future coercion.”
As a result of the referral, DOJ is suing UVMMC on HHS’s behalf. Through its Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, the OCR is charged with enforcing federal conscience statutes, including the Weldon and Church Amendments, and helping ensure entities come into compliance with these and other federal laws that protect conscience rights and prohibit coercion in health care.
“Under President [Donald] Trump, HHS has worked like never before to enforce laws Congress has passed to protect Americans’ religious freedom and conscience rights,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar.
Azar said UVMMC has violated “federal conscience laws and refused to work with us to take corrective action, so we are now taking action to hold them to account.”
Roger Severino, OCR director said, “Whatever one thinks of the legality of abortion, no one should be punished for declining to pay for or assist in the taking of human life.”
The complaint was filed May 11, 2018, after a UVMMC nurse filed a conscience and religious discrimination complaint with OCR against UVMMC, a medical center in Burlington, Vermont, that receives grant funds from HHS.
She said she was forced to assist in an abortion procedure in violation of the nurse’s conscience rights.
The complaint said UVMMC “could have readily, and without interruption to patient services, accommodated the religious or moral objections to elective abortion of its health care personnel,” according to the press release.
In violation of the plain language of the Church Amendments, the statement said UVMMC’s “conflict of care policy” reserves the right to disregard nurses’ expressed religious or moral objections to participating in abortion procedures.
OCR issued a notice of violation letter Aug. 28, 2019 asking the medical center to “conform its policies to the Church Amendments and take other corrective action.” Because UVMMC has failed to voluntarily comply with federal law and its contractual obligations as a federal grant recipient, HHS referred the matter to DOJ, which filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont on behalf of HHS, seeking a court order requiring UVMMC to comply with the Church Amendments and uphold its contractual obligations.
“As the lines of debate have unfortunately moved in recent years on these decades of mutual respect, the ERLC has prioritized efforts to protect pro-life healthcare professionals and shield taxpayer dollars from the tragedy of abortion,” said the Southern Baptists’ Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission in an article on its website.
Share with others: