Biden Administration Declares War on Pro-Lifers

Under the Biden Administration, the pro-life movement is facing increased hostility. In the latest example, the ACLJ represents a nurse who had a conscience objection to participating in abortion procedures. She was put on a list with other nurses who had objections to these types of procedures as well. When an abortion procedure came around, the lead surgeon, who was aware of the nurse’s objection to this, still decided not to swap nurses. Our client was forced to participate in the procedure. 

As a result, our client was traumatized from this event and even moved across the country, even leaving her career as an operating room nurse to remove herself from the pain of what happened. In 2018, feeling something needed to be done, she contacted the ACLJ. She expressed that she did not want to file a lawsuit that would make her situation public, but after we presented all legal options, she agreed on filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights which was assigned to the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division. In December 2020, it was the Department of Justice that sued the University of Vermont Medical Center in federal court.

Fast forward eight months later, under a new Administration, and the Department of Justice has dropped the lawsuit altogether.

ACLJ Senior Counsel and lead attorney on this case Frank Manion joined Sekulow to discuss this move by the Department of Justice:

It’s important for people to understand what happened here. This nurse did not want to file a civil lawsuit – we talked to her about that as an option. She didn’t want to put her family through the anxiety and rigors of what a civil lawsuit entails. . . . She didn’t want to be dragged back to Vermont to do a civil lawsuit. Especially when we were able to tell her three years ago under the previous Administration, that there was something called the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division which would take her case and vindicate her rights against the University of Vermont . . . but it is also clear to understand not only did the HHS [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] take this case, they refer to it as the most open and shut conscience violation case they had ever seen. The DOJ did file a lawsuit on her behalf 8 months ago. And now all of a sudden because there is a different name at the top of the department’s letterhead, they decided to abandon the position that they vigorously and forcefully argued last December and have asked the court to just drop the case, and said to the University of Vermont, “We are sorry we investigated you; have a nice day; never mind!”

The Biden Administration is clearly a setback to the pro-life movement. Frank added:

The hostility is what’s new. Before, we had apathy even under Republican administration . . . and even under the Obama Administration. Now we have hostility. Now remember the Church Amendment was passed in 1973 by an overwhelming majority of Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress, including by the way a brand-new Senator from Delaware named Joe Biden. The reason that it was passed was that we understood what the Supreme Court did in Roe v. Wade – legalized abortion in the United States. . . . But it was understood by people of goodwill on both sides that there were deeply held religious beliefs by millions of Americans against participating in this. And what they tried to do is to make it legally impossible for employers to force pro-life healthcare workers to have to violate their consciousness. And the wonderful thing was in the three years that we had the Conscious and Religious Freedom Division, we had the government finally putting teeth in that Amendment. And as of this week – not exactly a shock – that is over with.

In addition to the Left’s wish list of further empowering the abortion industry, they also want to accomplish a partisan $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill. The radical Left in Congress, led by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are attempting to block the $1 trillion bi-partisan infrastructure bill unless their $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill is passed first. The reconciliation bill is a far-Left wish list that includes projects like the Green New Deal which would otherwise not make it through the Senate. We will continue to monitor this bill and provide updates.

When we are fighting such a hostile Administration and Congress on critical issues, the ACLJ is needed now more than ever. To see more of the ACLJ’s work on government accountability, watch our latest episode – Shadows in the Capitol: Defining & Defeating the Deep State.

Today’s full Sekulow broadcast is complete with even more analysis of the Department of Justice dropping this case and the infrastructure bill in Congress.

Watch the full broadcast below.