Today, Health and Human Services released a press release and a violation notice to the University of Vermont Medical (UVMMC) for forcing a nurse to participate in an abortion procedure despite the nurse's conscientious objection. This is in violation of the Church Amendments, which gives medical professionals the right to refuse to carry out abortion procedures if it violates their religious or moral beliefs.UVMMC has violated these rules on multiple occasions. There have been nurses on staff that do not object to performing abortions, but UVMMC forced nurses who do object to assist in elective abortion procedures anyway under threat of discipline. The nurse, in this case, was told that if they did not cooperate they would lose their job. The nurse's conscientious objection had been expressed and recorded for years, but UVMMC did not respect it. This marks the third conscience complaint the office of Civil Rights has investigated since President Trump took office. Click here for more on this story.
Click here for National Right to Life's official response.