VA permits religious accommodation considerations for employees who oppose abortion

The Department of Veterans Affairs is reportedly allowing one of its Christian nurses to undergo a religious accommodation process over her opposition to abortion. 

Nurse Stephanie Carter sued the VA in December after her supervisor allegedly refused her request to opt out of abortion pill distribution, Live Action News previously reported. On Monday, her law firm, First Liberty, announced she was granted a religious accommodation process and that her lawsuit resulted in an accommodation process for all VA employees.

The Washington Times reported on Wednesday, however, that the VA claimed a religious accommodation process had been available since the VA’s abortion policy was announced in September.

“Since the day this policy was announced, VA has provided accommodations for VA employees who wish to opt out of providing abortion counseling or services,” press secretary Terrence Hayes reportedly said. 

First Liberty attorney Holly Randall argued that despite what the VA said, its practice wasn’t to offer religious accommodation. 

“The VA has made many claims about having an accommodation process, but the fact remains that Stephanie asked repeatedly about an accommodation and was told repeatedly by her supervisor that there was no process or more information would be made available at some vague point in the future,” Randall said, according to the Times. 

“Regardless, the VA was not granting accommodation or making their supervisors aware of what was in place.”

The Times reported that neither the interim final rule issued in September nor the VA’s announcement of the policy included any reference to religious accommodation. 

As Live Action News noted, the VA did send out guidance for conscience protections on Jan. 6, after Carter filed her lawsuit:

Officials stressed this is not a change in policy, but merely a formalization of existing practices. Under this formalized process, employees will work out an exemption request in concert with a supervisor and a reasonable accommodation coordinator. The specifics of the request will vary depending on the employee’s specific job and which conscience protection laws apply to them. While the exemption requests are being processed, managers are supposed to temporarily excuse employees from participating in abortions.

“From day one, Secretary McDonough has made clear to all employees that their religious beliefs are protected here at VA,” VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said in a statement. “VA continues to provide accommodations for VA employees who wish to opt out of providing abortion counseling or services.”

A VA transcript shows Secretary Dennis McDonough apparently acknowledging Carter’s lawsuit but not offering much other than describing the situation.

“I think I can characterize the case, but I’m not going to do much more than that because I want to not get in the middle of ongoing litigation, but there is a VA provider or a VA nurse who felt like her access to a reasonable accommodation to not participate in the provision of abortion was not adequately exercised or was not adequately protected,” he said. “That’s a case in Texas. It continues but I don’t have anything to say more than that.”

The VA’s policy was one of several controversial actions the Biden administration took after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs. Both the VA’s policy and one at the Pentagon’s prompted fierce opposition from Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who sought to block the VA’s policy with a resolution in February.

So far, the VA has committed dozens of abortions. Bloomberg Law reported in April that the department said it committed 34 abortions through February.