Twelve New Jersey nurses have filed a lawsuit against their hospital after they were told that they must assist in performing abortions or face losing their jobs.
On October 31st, the Alliance Defense Fund filed the suit in the US District Court of New Jersey on behalf of the nurses who are currently employed at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey. The hospital has been performing abortions for years but it was not until a very recent policy change which mandated that nurses would be forced to assist in the procedures. ADF attorney Matt Bowman told the Catholic News Agency that the hospital has violated federal and state law by requiring nurses to participate in abortions against their consciences and threatening to fire them if they refuse.
“We are asking the hospital to cease its illegal compulsion immediately,” said Bowman. “We’re going to ask the court to order the hospital to obey the law and to not violate our clients’ beliefs, and we’re going to ask the court to make the hospital give back the millions of dollars that it’s received in tax money on the promise that it would not force health care personnel to assist abortions.”
The fact that these nurses had to go so far as to bring the University of Medicine and Dentistry to court is outrageous. It seems only reasonable that the administrators of this institution would have enough respect for their employees not to force them to take part in an act that they find morally reprehensible. This policy demonstrates an outright attack on conscience. If these nurses do not allow their consciences to be violated, they will be fired. If they do not participate in evil, they cannot support their families. If abortion were just another medical procedure, why would nurses be forced to participate in it? The truth is that these nurses know what abortion is and are being asked to witness and take part in the killing of innocent children. When these nurses chose the medical profession, it was with the intent to help the sick—not to be the cause of death.
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