While it is a horror film in the making... NOT this Vince Price.
Posted on 11/06/2017 7:57:07 AM PST by SeekAndFind
DURHAM, North Carolina, November 3, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – A Catholic nurse is suing Duke University Hospital, claiming that the university discriminated against her religious and pro-life beliefs by requiring her to assist in abortions.
Sara T. Pedro was told during her employee orientation that Duke University Hospital provides no exceptions to employees in its Emergency Department who don’t want to participate in abortions. The lawsuit, filed by The Thomas More Law Center on Pedro's behalf, says that Duke’s Emergency Department performs “a large number of abortions.”
The lawsuit claims that Pedro faced retaliation and discrimination after she made a written request to be exempt from the pro-abortion policy.
Duke wouldn’t let her advance from training to regular duty. The university then “issued her a written warning for vague and unsubstantiated reasons, and then placed her on administrative leave when she attempted to formally dispute the warning,” according to the Thomas More lawyers.
“This case illustrates the unfortunate dangers faced today by individuals who seek to remain faithful to their religious beliefs in the workplace,” said Tyler Brooks, the Thomas More Law Center attorney handling the case.
“With this lawsuit, however, we intend to show that even very large employers must respect the civil rights of their Christian employees,” he said.
The Thomas More Law Center says Duke violated state and federal laws.
“Because of her Catholic faith, [Pedro] objects to assisting in abortions, dispensing birth control and contraceptives, and receiving as well as administering vaccines,” the lawsuit says.
“Duke subjected her to a degrading series of actions designed to punish and retaliate against her for engaging in federally-protected activity,” it continues, noting it’s been more than 10 months since Pedro submitted her second request for religious accommodation.
Duke hasn’t responded or “otherwise provided an explanation as to how the request presented an undue hardship.”
Under the federal law civil rights law “Title VII, an employer is required to reasonably accommodate an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs and religious practices, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship,” the lawyers explained in their lawsuit on behalf of the pro-life nurse.
Duke’s discrimination and retaliation against Pedro were committed with “the intent of forcing her out of her job with Defendant Duke,” the lawsuit argues.
Pedro attends daily Mass and prays the rosary for an end to abortion, the lawsuit says.
“Until recently being evicted from her home due to an inability to pay her rent, she kept a miraculous image of the Blessed Mother on her wall above a home shrine she made alongside the American flag presented to her father at his retirement from the National Guard,” it continues.
After she graduated from Mount St. Mary’s University and took her nursing boards in New York, Pedro went to daily Mass and prayed to God that she would pass the exam.
Inside the church that day, “she promised God that, if she passed her boards, she would serve Him as a nurse and always strive to be faithful to His teachings,” the lawsuit explains.
Pedro passed and went on to work at NYU Langone Medical Center and then the Burn ICU at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center. In New York, she also trained to be a birth doula.
Pedro was never once disciplined by an employer during her tenure in New York.
The lawsuit highlights what it means to be a Christian who faithfully follows the 5th Commandment against murder, because abortion deliberately ends the life of a tiny, innocent human being.
I didn’t realize so many abortions were considered an emergency.
Pretty sure Duke’s “no exceptions” policy is a violation of this nurse’s constitutional rights.
I get the part about abortions and contraceptives, but vaccines? Also, why would an emergency department be performing abortions? Wouldn't they refer those to OB/GYN?
If I were rich I would pay her legal costs.
These hospitals can always find atheist nurses and doctors to participate in abortions.
Could be as explained at http://soundchoice.org/aborted-fetal-products/: some vaccines are made from products derived from aborted persons.
IMHO, I think using her faith and listing out what she wouldn’t perform/assist in.. was overkill (no pun intended). I’m Catholic and there is nothing in my faith that prevents me from getting a vaccine. The hospitals in our areas and nursing homes make it mandatory for employees and volunteers to get certain vaccines to prevent spreading it to patients (already sick or weak) like the flu vaccine etc.. I know emergency rooms can dispense Plan B (emergency contraceptives) to rape victims. However, I have never heard of them performing emergency abortions (unless she considers an ectopic pregnancy as abortive but that procedure is done in the operating room).
Nurse Pedro should claim that she is a muslim. Duke would then quickly back down.
She should have been Muslim.
A visit to Duke Hospital ER waiting room will keep you away from that hospital. Been there many times.
Be prepared to wait for several hours even for life threatening illness.
They keep it cold to stop the spread of disease.. real cold. They hand you stacks of blankets when you enter.
Then you get to see a physician’s assistant rather than an MD.
While it is a horror film in the making... NOT this Vince Price.
Something tells me they would make accomodations if it were a Muslim requesting exemption.
Abortion advocates institute policies to force pro-lifers to be complicit in baby killing.
It is evil.
It should be exposed and stopped.
Unfortunately, The Constitution is whatever Kagan, Sotomayor, Breyer, Ginsburg, and one other say it is.
Not sure but if you won’t give a tetanus booster you ar going to have a very short career in an emergency department. I am unaware of ANY abortions done in ER unless it would be dispensing the morning after pill which I would think could be easily avoided by a nurse. I’m not even sure that is done in the ER it is more likely a prescription would be given. Something is not right about this story (and I am pro life)
But muslim cashiers can refuse to ring up pork or alcohol.
The morning after pill is most effective when it is giving as soon as possible so it is indeed administered by ER nurses.
I agree with you that something’s not quite right about this story. Rather than list the aspects of her job she will not perform, maybe this nurse would be better off seeking a position where these issues won’t come up. The story says she performed well working in a burn unit ICU. Why not seek another job like that?
The article didn’t say, but since there is no Catholic doctrine against vaccines per se, I hazard a guess we’re talking about vaccines using cell lines “harvested” from aborted babies,.
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