VA To Allow Religious Accommodations for Employees Opposed to Abortion Services

In December 2022, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) nurse Stephanie Carter filed a lawsuit seeking an exemption from providing abortion-related care to veterans and VA beneficiaries, on the grounds of her religious beliefs.

Roughly seven months later, Carter has been granted that exemption, and the VA has announced that it will institute a nationwide religious accommodation process for all of its employees.

Carter’s lawsuit stemmed from a new policy the VA announced last September, which allowed the agency to provide access to abortion counseling and, in certain cases, abortions to pregnant veterans and VA beneficiaries.

Carter, an Army veteran and nurse practitioner at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center in Temple, Texas, alleged in her suit that her “sincerely held religious beliefs prohibit her from offering abortion services and providing counseling required by application” of the VA’s policy. She also claimed that the policy violated her rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and that the VA has no process in place to receive religious accommodation requests from healthcare workers, Becker’s Hospital Review reported at the time.

Filed in the U.S. District Court in Waco, Texas, Carter’s suit initially requested the court to rule that the VA’s policy was illegal, and sought to block the agency from enforcing it at the facility where Carter works. The VA maintained that it provided its healthcare employees with information on how to file exemption requests through their supervisors.

The VA’s abortion access policy resembles the one in place at Department of Defense (DoD) medical facilities, Mary Kuntz, a Washington, D.C.-based partner at employment law firm Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch, told PSHRA in the wake of Carter’s suit being filed earlier this year.

The VA’s policy differs, however, in that it seeks to allow exceptions for religious objections by medical professionals at VA centers, Kuntz said.

“This, of course, is intended to be complaint with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and address First Amendment concerns,” Kuntz said. “However, it appears that the VA has failed to provide a policy for employees to follow in seeking religious waivers or a process for determining the outcome of these.”

First Liberty Institute, the Plano, Texas law firm representing Carter, recently requested that the suit be dismissed, following the VA’s decision to implement a nationwide religious accommodation process.

“We’re pleased that the VA implemented a nationwide policy to protect the religious liberty rights of all VA employees,” said Danielle Runyan, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, in a statement. “Stephanie Carter is living proudly by her faith and should not be forced to choose between her faith and her career. Because of her courage, every VA employee in the nation can now seek a religious accommodation from participating in a procedure they find unconscionable.”