Justice Department Declines to Defend Conscience Rights

The Department of Justice has declined to pursue a case against the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC), a suit that the government initially filed last year after a former nurse alleged that she had been forced to participate in an abortion procedure despite her objections. In December of last year, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division under the Trump administration filed a lawsuit in federal court against UVMMC, arguing that the center had violated the Church amendments, federal statutes enacted in the 1970s to protect the religious-freedom and conscience rights of health-care workers. Under these protections, medical entities are prohibited from discriminating against health-care workers who have religious or moral objections to performing abortions or sterilization procedures.