The Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services issued a formal notice Wednesday against a government-funded Vermont hospital, alleging it violated federal law by forcing a Catholic nurse to assist with an abortion.
The department’s Notice of Violation against the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) threatens the loss of federal funding if the hospital fails to conform its policies with the so-called Church Amendments, which were enacted in the 1970s and protect the conscience rights of individuals and entities that object to abortion.
The UVMMC nurse filed a complaint on May 9, 2018. An investigation by the department’s Office for Civil Rights found that the medical center “forced the nurse complainant to assist in an abortion against the nurse’s religious or moral objection,” according to an HHS news release.
“The nurse had expressed an objection for many years and was included in a list of objectors, but UVMMC knowingly assigned the nurse to an abortion procedure,” HHS said. “The nurse was not told the procedure was an abortion until the nurse walked into the room, when the doctor – knowing the nurse objected to assisting in abortions – told the nurse, ‘Don’t hate me.’ The nurse again objected, and other staff were present who could have taken the nurse’s place, but the nurse was required to assist with…
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