A Virginia nurse practitioner said she was dismissed because she refused to provide patients contraception or Plan B due to her religious views.
Paige Casey, a Catholic, was dismissed on April 1, 2022, when she refused to obey CVS MinuteClinic’s amended policy stating workers may no longer deny customers Plan B or birth control.
Casey’s religious exemption was allowed from 2018 until CVS ‘abruptly stopped’ recognising it in December 2021, the complaint said.
She sought for another exception in December following the policy change, but corporate executives said no in January and March.
After refusing to provide the drug, she was fired.
In 2018, she reportedly informed CVS that her faith barred her from prescribing or enabling the use of a medicine or technology that inhibits fertilised egg implantation.
Michael DeAngelis, a CVS Health representative, told DailyMail.com on Friday that Casey’s request was refused because she must execute ‘critical responsibilities’ of her work.
Paige Casey, a Catholic, is suing CVS for terminating her over her religion after a policy change. In 2018, she was given a religious exemption to not administer contraceptives or Plan B.
‘MinuteClinic does not provide abortion care or services, but educating and treating patients about sexual health – including pregnancy prevention, STD screening and treatment, and safer sex practises – have become essential job functions of our providers and nurses,’ DeAngelis told DailyMail.com in a statement.
We can’t exclude patients from vital MinuteClinic activities unless mandated by law.
Virginia law specifies that a healthcare professional who objects to abortions on personal, ethical, moral, or religious reasons is not obligated to assist in abortion operations.
Plan B is an over-the-counter medication that is not a medical abortion. Contraceptives, including Plan B, are used to prevent pregnancy and are not procedures.
Early in pregnancy, a two-pill abortion may be done. Pharmacy-bought tablets are used to end a pregnancy at home. Plan B and contraception can’t end a pregnancy.
ADF, a Christian conservative organisation defending Casey, claims CVS ‘defied the law’ by terminating the practitioner with a’spotless record’ over her religious convictions.
CVS fired her because she believes life starts at conception. ADF Senior Counsel Denise Harle said Virginia law supports the right to work without fear of being fired for opposing abortion.
Plan B Versus Abortion
Plan B and medical abortion treat distinct conditions. Plan B prevents pregnancy, whereas abortion ends one.
Even though they’re both pregnancy tablets, they’re different.
Backup
Plan B is an over-the-counter medication used within 48 hours after unprotected intercourse.
According to the Miami Valley Women’s Center, levonorgestrel ‘changes the cervix’ to make it tougher for sperm to access the uterus or for a fertilised egg to adhere to the uterine wall.
Plan B prevents pregnancy but won’t end one.
Not abortion care.
Abortion medically
Mifepristone and Misoprostol are two medications used for medical abortions.
Mifepristone is administered in a clinic to prevent progesterone, the ‘pregnancy hormone.’
The Miami Valley Women’s Center says the medicine thins the uterine lining and hinders implantation.
Misoprostol is used to evacuate the foetus 24-48 hours later at home.
Medical abortion can only end a pregnancy, not prevent one.
Abortion isn’t contraception.
If businesses can fire someone for practising their religion, we are approaching risky terrain. Tolerance is reciprocal, she said.
While Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin did declare in June that he would seek to enact a ban on abortions after 15 weeks, neither contraception nor abortion are currently prohibited there.
Many pharmacies, including CVS and Walgreens, have come under fire for failing to discipline staff members who deny patients access to medical care on the basis of their religious convictions.
A Minneapolis Walgreens employee named John turned down Jessica and Nate Pentz’s request to buy condoms in the middle of July.
They claim John said, “I can’t sell those to you. We can sell that to you, but I won’t because of my religious beliefs.
She told the cashier that what she bought was “none of his business.”
In the end, the couple was able to purchase condoms after a manager rang them up.
Walgreens expressed regret but reiterated that staff members could leave the register if they had a moral objection to the transaction.
According to Walgreens, “our company policy allows team members to refer a transaction to another team member or manager who will complete the customer’s request” if they have a moral objection to it.
The business added that pharmacists could leave if they didn’t agree with a patient’s prescription, but they would still need to refer the case to another pharmacist.
Due to religious tenets, a different Walgreens store declined to refill Abigail Martin’s birth control.
She gave me a curious look as I told her I was there to use my birth control and she said, “Hmm.” like, pardon me?
When Martin went back the next day to pick up her past-due birth control, another employee reportedly informed her the business has been experiencing problems with that employee. Martin had double-checked with her doctor that everything was okay for her prescription.
Customers are now calling for a boycott of pharmacies that permit staff to refuse access to birth control and other forms of contraception based on their religious beliefs, particularly in light of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, which puts the birth control access of millions of American women in jeopardy.
In Roe v. Wade, the US Supreme Court acknowledged a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. The momentous decision split the public and has been under criticism ever since it legalised abortion throughout the country.
Norma McCorvey, a 22-year-old Texas resident who was not married and sought to end her unwelcome pregnancy, brought the lawsuit in 1971.
She was unable to have an abortion in a safe and legal setting because of state law that forbade them unless the mother’s life was in danger.
In 1970, McCorvey filed a lawsuit against Henry Wade, the Dallas County District Attorney. To preserve McCorvey’s privacy, the case was appealed to the Supreme Court under the Roe v. Wade precedent.
a Supreme Court ruling
The Supreme Court ruled 7–2 that the 14th Amendment protects a woman’s freedom to make her own medical choices, including the option to have an abortion.
Particularly, that the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause guarantees a basic “right to privacy” that safeguards a woman’s freedom to decide whether or not to undergo an abortion.
Impact
The judgement was hailed as a win by pro-choice activists since it would mean that fewer women would suffer grave illnesses or even pass away from abortions performed by untrained or unlicensed doctors. Furthermore, the right to choose was seen as a big milestone in the country’s quest for women’s equality. It would be possible for rape or incest victims to end the pregnancy and avoid feeling pressured to become mothers.
Pro-lifers said that it was the same as murder and that all life, regardless of the method of conception, is valuable. Anti-abortionists have subsequently pushed for hundreds of state legislation that have limited the impact of the case, despite the fact that the decision has never been reversed.
One of them was the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which was signed by President George W. Bush in 2003 and prohibited a method used to carry out abortions in the second trimester.
Prior to coming out as Jane Roe in the 1980s, McCorvey maintained a peaceful existence.
McCorvey, Norma (Jane Roe)
After the decision, McCorvey continued a quiet existence until the 1980s, when she came out and identified herself as Jane Roe. McCorvey rose to prominence as an ardent pro-abortion advocate in American society and even had a position of employment in an abortion clinic for women.
In 1995, she made the unthinkable U-turn, converting to Christianity and starting to tour the nation against the process.
She submitted a request to the US district court in Dallas in 2003 seeking to reverse her original 1973 decision. The appeal went through the courts until the Supreme Court eventually rejected it in 2005.
At the age of 69, McCorvey passed away at a Texas assisted care facility in February 2017.
The “The Heartbeat bill”
As part of a coordinated push to limit abortion rights in states throughout the nation, many governors have approved bills barring abortion if a doctor can identify a so-called “foetal heartbeat.”
Doctors who break the restriction will face legal consequences.
Because “foetal heartbeats” may be found as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, when women may not even be aware they are pregnant, proponents of abortion rights consider the “heartbeat legislation” as essentially outlawing the procedure.
Since US President Donald Trump selected two conservative justices to the US Supreme Court, pro-life activists have stepped up their efforts in the hopes of persuading the court to reconsider Roe v. Wade.
Heartbeat legislation have recently been established in Georgia, Ohio, Missouri, and Louisiana. Alabama passed an even stricter version in May, effectively outlawing abortion from the time of conception. Similar legislation is pending in other states as well.
Similar legislation has also been passed in Arkansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, Iowa, and Kentucky; however, because legal challenges have been made against them, courts have blocked their implementation.