{"id":295450,"date":"2023-07-28T13:47:46","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T18:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=295450"},"modified":"2023-07-27T15:39:18","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T20:39:18","slug":"va-permits-religious-accommodation-oppose-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/va-permits-religious-accommodation-oppose-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"VA permits religious accommodation considerations for employees who oppose abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

The Department of Veterans Affairs is reportedly allowing one of its Christian nurses to undergo a religious accommodation process over her opposition to abortion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nurse Stephanie Carter sued the VA in December after her supervisor allegedly refused her request to opt out of abortion pill distribution, <\/span>Live Action News<\/span><\/a> previously reported. On Monday, her law firm, First Liberty, <\/span>announced<\/span><\/a> she was granted a religious accommodation process and that her lawsuit resulted in an accommodation process for all VA employees.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Washington Times <\/span>reported<\/span><\/a> on Wednesday, however, that the VA claimed a religious accommodation process had been available since the VA’s abortion <\/span>policy was announced<\/a> in September.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSince the day this policy was announced, VA has provided accommodations for VA employees who wish to opt out of providing abortion counseling or services,\u201d press secretary Terrence Hayes reportedly said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First Liberty attorney Holly Randall argued that despite what the VA said, its practice wasn\u2019t to offer religious accommodation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe VA has made many claims about having an accommodation process, but the fact remains that Stephanie asked repeatedly about an accommodation and was told repeatedly by her supervisor that there was no process or more information would be made available at some vague point in the future,\u201d Randall said, according to the Times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless, the VA was not granting accommodation or making their supervisors aware of what was in place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Times reported that neither the interim final rule issued in September nor the VA\u2019s announcement of the policy included any reference to religious accommodation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As Live Action News <\/span>noted<\/span><\/a>, the VA did send out guidance for conscience protections on Jan. 6, after Carter filed her lawsuit:<\/span><\/p>\n

Officials stressed this is not a change in policy, but merely a formalization of existing practices. Under this formalized process, employees will work out an exemption request in concert with a supervisor and a reasonable accommodation coordinator. The specifics of the request will vary depending on the employee\u2019s specific job and which conscience protection laws apply to them. While the exemption requests are being processed, managers are supposed to temporarily excuse employees from participating in abortions.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom day one, Secretary McDonough has made clear to all employees that their religious beliefs are protected here at VA,\u201d VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said in a statement. \u201cVA continues to provide accommodations for VA employees who wish to opt out of providing abortion counseling or services.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

A VA <\/span>transcript<\/span><\/a> shows Secretary Dennis McDonough apparently acknowledging Carter\u2019s lawsuit but not offering much other than describing the situation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think I can characterize the case, but I\u2019m not going to do much more than that because I want to not get in the middle of ongoing litigation, but there is a VA provider or a VA nurse who felt like her access to a reasonable accommodation to not participate in the provision of abortion was not adequately exercised or was not adequately protected,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s a case in Texas. It continues but I don\u2019t have anything to say more than that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The VA\u2019s policy was one of several controversial actions the Biden administration took after the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in <\/span>Dobbs<\/span><\/i>. Both the VA\u2019s policy and one at the Pentagon\u2019s prompted fierce opposition from Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who <\/span>sought<\/span><\/a> to block the VA\u2019s policy with a resolution in February.<\/span><\/p>\n

So far, the VA has committed dozens of abortions. Bloomberg Law reported<\/a> in April that the department said it committed 34 abortions through February.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Department of Veterans Affairs is reportedly allowing one of its Christian nurses to undergo a religious accommodation process over her opposition to abortion.\u00a0 Nurse Stephanie Carter sued the VA in December after her supervisor allegedly refused her request to opt out of abortion pill distribution, Live Action News previously reported. On Monday, her law […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":868,"featured_media":284305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nVA permits religious accommodation considerations for employees who oppose abortion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Department of Veterans Affairs is allowing one of its nurses to undergo a religious accommodation over her opposition to abortion.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/va-permits-religious-accommodation-oppose-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VA permits religious accommodation considerations for 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