More health care workers could be at risk of losing their jobs over conscience objections says an attorney from the firm that served one of the legal teams in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.
The case reversed the Roe v. Wade decision nearly 50 years ago that legalized abortion in every state. The firm, Alliance Defending Freedom is now representing Paige Casey, a licensed nurse practitioner in Virginia, who was terminated from her job at the CVS drugstore chain for declining to provide abortion-inducing drugs and certain contraceptives to patients.
“I definitely think there will be more of these kinds of cases,” Kevin Theriot, senior counsel at the firm told the Heartland Daily Podcast on October 11. “One of the driving reasons is there is a lack of respect for the ethical convictions of health care professionals. We’re seeing that across the board, not just with abortion but also with physician-assisted suicide.”
Spotless Record
Casey worked at a CVS MinuteClinic for three and a half years before she was fired on March 29, 2022.
“She let them know early on that she can’t prescribe drugs abortifacients and they accommodated her,” said Theriot. “They decided they were no longer going to do that and informed her that they weren’t going to accommodate her beliefs, even though there are no complaints from co-workers, patients, or supervisors. She had a spotless record and two days before she was fired, she received a merit-based increase.”
In the suit filed on August 31, Paige Casey v. MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Virginia, filed in Virginia Circuit Court in Prince William County, Casey claims CVS violated Virginia’s Conscience Clause which prohibits employers from discriminating against health care professionals who ask in writing not to participate in abortions because of religious or ethical beliefs.
Casey is asking for a declaratory judgment, compensatory damages not to exceed $100,000, legal fees, a jury trial, and other relief.
Why Now?
It is not clear what prompted CVS to fire Casey after several years of employment. CVS MinuteClinics don’t prescribe abortion pills, mifepristone, and misoprostol currently, says Theriot.
“But I could see them attempting to do so in the future. They are going down that path and they want their medical professionals to be able to prescribe anything that could be considered a prevention of pregnancy,” said Theriot.
Several news reports have singled out CVS for its “woke” behavior, says Matt Dean, the senior fellow for health care policy outreach at The Heartland Institute, which co-publishes Health Care News.
“Last year, super-woke CVS was in the news for mandating that hourly employees ‘inventory’ their biases against their fellow employees and customers,” said Dean. “Retailers like CVS were also able to mandate that hourly workers take the COVID-19 vaccine even if the employee believed that doing so would violate their religious beliefs.”
That emboldened CVS to take liberties away from employees like Casey says Dean.
“Such a move may have bolstered Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in his threat to hold drugstores liable for civil rights violations against women seeking abortifacients from some employees who are currently not forced to dispense such drugs,” said Dean. “Paige Casey was fired despite the fact that Virginia law specifically protects her right to refrain from dispensing abortifacients, as well the fact that CVS honored her clearly defined exception for over three years without a single customer complaint.”
‘Battering Ram’ for the Left
Public objection to the vaccine mandates expressed more than simply concern over vaccine safety.
“COVID-19 vaccine mandates are providing a convenient battering ram for the woke left to bash the religious liberties of devout Catholics and other pro-life workers,” said Dean.” “Had the vaccine mandates been successfully challenged, this unprecedented move would likely never have been taken. Religious leaders are on notice that they are next, as the abortion lobby moves its battle line from the town drugstore to the church.”
The outcome is something that should concern everyone, says Theriot.
“What places like CVS are doing is driving medical professionals from an already taxed medical profession,” said Theriot. “You want a medical professional that is ethical.”
AnneMarie Schieber (amschieber@heartland.org) is the managing editor of Health Care News.
Photo courtesy Alliance Defending Freedom
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