WACO, Texas (LifeSiteNews) — The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday released a protocol for religious exemption requests after a nurse filed a lawsuit over the lack of a pathway for religious pro-life employees to opt out of facilitating abortions.
Non-profit law firm First Liberty Institute filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Waco in December on behalf of Texas-based nurse practitioner and U.S. Army veteran Stephanie Carter.
Carter, a Christian, had worked at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center in Temple, Texas, for over two decades until 2022, when the Biden administration handed down a new rule requiring that VA nurses provide “abortion services” to pregnant veterans, Catholic Vote reported. The December lawsuit claims the Biden administration implemented the new rule after “[i]gnoring the value and necessity” of the debate surrounding abortion and cutting against a “decades-long prohibition on such activity.”
In October, Carter was allegedly informed that she would be required to prescribe medications to kill preborn babies up in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Carter alleged the requirement from the Biden administration violated her freedom to exercise her religion as protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and raised concerns that the requirement could place her in legal jeopardy in Texas, where abortion is a crime.
“Ms. Carter fears losing her job, losing her nurse practitioner’s license, violating her religious beliefs, and violating Texas law,” the lawsuit notes.
The filing states that the Biden administration’s unprecedented new rule meant that Carter soon “found herself working at a medical facility whose mission now included providing abortions and abortion counseling, something that ran afoul of Carter’s belief that “unborn babies are created in the image of God and should be protected” and forced her to “choose between her job and her religious convictions.”
“Because of her religious beliefs, Ms. Carter cannot perform, prescribe, or counsel for abortions, or work in a facility that performs abortion services for reasons other than to save the life of the mother,” the lawsuit explains. Pro-life advocates point out that the deliberate killing of a preborn baby is never medically necessary.
Carter reportedly requested a religious exemption from the requirement to facilitate abortions on two separate occasions but was advised “that there was no process in place for the VA to consider her requests.”
According to the lawsuit, in the three months between the implementation of the new rule and Carter’s legal action, no such protocol for religious accommodation was created.
However, on Monday the VA finally released a nationwide religious accommodation protocol allowing employees who hold pro-life views based upon their religious convictions to opt out of the Biden administration’s pro-abortion rule.
The decision has been hailed as a victory by First Liberty Institute.
“We’re pleased that the VA implemented a nationwide policy to protect the religious liberty rights of all VA employees,” Danielle Runyan, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, said in a July 24 statement.
“Stephanie Carter is living proudly by her faith and should not be forced to choose between her faith and her career,” Runyan said. “Because of her courage, every VA employee in the nation can now seek a religious accommodation from participating in a procedure they find unconscionable.”
First Liberty Institute has asked the court to dismiss its lawsuit now that the desired outcome has been achieved.
The Biden administration’s VA rule came shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the nationwide “right” to abortion through its Dobbs v. Jackson decision in June 2022 and was among several actions subsequently undertaken by the radically pro-abortion Biden administration to blunt the effect of the landmark decision.