Dear ProLife Colleague: Below see continuing assult on the right of conscience. The implications for all of us are huge. Be informed re: the battle in the war on your religious conscience convictions. The assault on the First Amendment of the US Constitutioin could not be more plain. Nor more serious. Hospital Told Nurses: Assist Abortions or Lose Your Job A dozen nurses have filed a lawsuit against their employer, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, which told them they had to either assist in abortions or risk losing their jobs. The Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit on behalf of 12 nurses in New Jersey who work for a hospital receiving federal health funds who were told they needed to assist abortions or be terminated from their employment. The mandate violates several federal conscience laws and state law, ADF senior legal counsel Matt Bowman tells LifeNews. “Pro-life nurses shouldn’t be forced to assist in abortions against their beliefs,” Bowman told LifeNews. “No less than 12 nurses have encountered threats to their jobs at this hospital ever since a policy change required them to participate in the abortions regardless of their religious objections. That is flatly illegal.” According to a copy of the complaint ADF sent LifeNews, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey was “demanding that the Nurses must assist abortions in violation of their religious objections or they will be terminated. Defendants have illegally coerced some of the Nurses to train to assist abortions already, and Defendants are presently scheduling the others to do so.” “UMDNJ’s coercion of the Nurses is a blatant violation of federal and state law, which explicitly prohibit UMDNJ from penalizing employees including Plaintiffs because they object to assisting abortions,” the complaint says. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/01/hospital-told-nurses-assist-abortions-or-lose-your-job/ The following is from Dr. David Stevens of CMDA, re: his testimony to a Congressional sub-committee concerning the “contraceptive mandate” from HHS, on behalf of your freedom of conscience in your practice: In a nutshell, Health & Human Services (HHS) has adopted the most limited right of conscience language ever to be used in federal law in its new contraceptive mandate to health insurance. Using language developed by the ACLU, the mandate now requires all policies issued to cover all forms of FDA-approved contraceptives, sterilization and counseling with no co-pay. The only entities exempt are those that: (1) Have the inculcation of religious values as their purpose; (2) primarily employ persons who share its religious tenets; (3) primarily serves persons who share their religious tenets; and (4) are non-profit organizations under section 6033(a)(1) and section 6033(a)(3)(A)(i) or (iii) of the Code. Practically, this means that ROC protections are limited to churches. The one-in-six hospitals in the country that are Catholic must provide coverage for birth control and sterilization. Christian practices and non-profits that serve the poor must provide coverage for morning after pills, including the recently approved “Ella” that is an analog to RU-486 and prevents implantation of the developing embryo, as well as causes the abortion of an established embryo. Despite the clear science, the FDA classified “Ella” as a contraceptive, not an abortifacient. The main argument put forth by those supporting this truncated view of ROC was that an individual may have a conscience, but organizations do not. As a result, organizations do not merit any protection, while the needs of the women who request any and all contraceptives supersede any concerns of those who are paying for the insurance policy. xxxxxxxxxxxx AAPLOG will continue to keep you informed on the conscience issue, as we defend the First Amendment to the US Constitution, and your freedom of conscience as a Healthcare Provider.