Catholic Nurse Forced to Participate in Abortion
Hmmm…I wonder why the ACLU aren’t defending religious liberty!???
The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Catholic nurse who was forced to participate in an abortion, despite voicing her moral objections.
Catherina Cenzon-DeCarlo, a nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, was instructed to assist in a late second-trimester abortion for a woman 22 weeks into her pregnancy. The hospital had known of the nurse’s religious objections to abortion since she was hired in 2004.
Cenzon-DeCarlo reminded her supervisors of her religious objections, but was told that if she did not participate, she would be charged with “insubordination and patient abandonment,” which could result in disciplinary action and the possible loss of her job and nursing license.
Hospital officials told Cenzon-DeCarlo that the situation was an “emergency,” although evidence suggests that this was not the case. The hospital itself labeled the case as a “Category II,” meaning that the operation needed to take place within six hours. This would have allowed enough time to find another nurse without moral objections to assisting in the abortion, her lawyers said.
Matt Bowman, legal counsel for the ADF, explained that the hospital could not legally have required the nurse to participate in the abortion even if the case had been a “Category I,” meaning that the patient required “immediate surgical intervention for life or limb threatening conditions.” Federal statutes prohibit recipients of federal health funds from requiring employees to perform abortions, Bowman told CNA.
However, the evidence in the case suggested that the patient was not even at the “Category II” level, as the hospital had claimed. When the woman was brought into the room, Cenzon-DeCarlo observed no indications that the case was a medical emergency. The woman’s blood pressure was not at a crisis level, and standard procedures for patients in crisis had not been taken. Yet the nurse was still required to aid in the abortion.
When CNA contacted Mount Sinai, officials refused to comment or explain why the nurse was asked to participate in the abortion. Officials stated that they would not comment because a lawsuit is pending.
Now, the ADF has filed a lawsuit against Mount Sinai for violating Cenzon-DeCarlo’s rights of conscience.
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Posted by Jay on December 11, 2009 2:38 pm
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, ACLU, Abortion, Church And State, Healthcare, Medical Malpractice/ethics, News, Where's the ACLU
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8 Responses to “Catholic Nurse Forced to Participate in Abortion”
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Our Christian rights and freedoms are being systematically stripped every day. This country needs to be restored back to her Godly heritage. Join Minister A.Juluis Culbreath and thousands of other Christians in the fight for our rights at: http://www.1natinundergodforever.com
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Cat888: Good Site!
Here’s the actual http://1nationundergodforever.com/
Christians are finally waking up and that’s a good thing.
Wouldn’t she have a better chance to succeed in court if she did not attend and took the punishment? As it stands, she just sold her soul and was not certain at all what the punishment was really going to be.
I support conscientious objectors to abortion, but once she participated in it, she lost the moral high ground.
Wouldn’t she have a better chance to succeed in court if she did not attend and took the punishment? As it stands, she just sold her soul and was not certain at all what the punishment was really going to be.
I support conscientious objectors to abortion, but once she participated in it, she lost the moral high ground.
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She lost no moral ground. She was denied the opportunity to be a conscientious objector. What happened to her should never happen to anyone. This is about freedom. Freedom to never betray one’s conscience.
Aston brings up an interesting point. While I by no means know what I would have done in her shoes, she could have said no and trusted that all would be okay in the end. I understand the thought of being jobless is frightening (terrifying, actually)and again, I don’t know what I would have done.
However, I don’t think she loses any moral ground. There are times in all of our lives where we lose our moral compass and choose the world rather than the Word. It’s not like she did anything illegal (though abortion should be).
Actually the ACLU does defend religious freedom…
it’s the first point of interest….
it’s the Christians who only want to protect their own religions and force out everyone else’s….
“it’s the Christians who only want to protect their own religions and force out everyone else’s…”
I’m going to need an English translation of that. Abortion is a religion?
A redo of a LifeNews.com story from this summer. See what the hospital had to say in its defense: http://www.lifenews.com/state4359.html