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Louisiana Nurse Demoted for Not Distributing ‘Morning After’ Abortion Pill

Court gives her ‘all-clear’ for lawsuit against hospital for violating conscience rights

By Cassidy Bugos

COVINGTON, La., January 8, 2007 (LifeSiteNew.com) – A lawsuit filed on behalf of a nurse demoted for refusing to administer the ‘morning-after’ abortion pill, Plan B, will go forward, Alliance Defense Fund attorneys say.  Louisiana’s 22nd Judicial District Court gave notice Friday January 5 that the hospital’s request for summary judgment has been denied, and the judge desires to see the facts of the case taken before a jury. 

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit against St. Tammany Parish Hospital in June 2005 for terminating the full-time employment of Nurse Toni Lemly after she refused to administer the early-abortion pill in conjunction with a new ‘family planning’ clinic at the hospital. 

The lawsuit argues that the hospital’s actions violated Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discriminating against employees because of their religious beliefs; the Louisiana Employment Discrimination Law; and another state law that protects employees who wish to refrain from participating in abortions. 

“This case is about protecting a person’s freedom of conscience, particularly when it is guided by religious beliefs,” said ADF attorney Brian Arabie of Lake Charles. “The hospital acted unlawfully when it refused to make a reasonable accommodation for Ms. Lemly and instead terminated her full-time position.”

Ms. Lemly, a nurse for 23 years, had worked at the Covington hospital’s Community Wellness Center for eight months before the family planning program was initiated. According to the lawsuit, Ms. Lemly was required by the hospital to administer Plan B to those patients who requested it.

In a May 2004 letter to St. Tammany Parish Hospital staff, Lemly outlined her moral and religious objections to participating in the distribution of the pill. She asserted that the pill is prescribed to be taken within 72 hours after intercourse precisely in order to cause an early abortion if a pregnancy has occurred. The pill causes an abortion by preventing “a living, united female egg and male sperm which is HUMAN life from attaching itself to the uterus lining.”

“I have an innate, deep-seeded belief in Supreme Holy God and I am one of His children,” Lemly wrote to the center’s director Judy Wischkemper. “Since He is my Lord and Savior, for me to give pills to take a life He creates would be for me to go against Him and His plan.”

Lemly submitted to the hospital a list of suggested ways she could be allowed to refrain from directly participating in the administration of the pill while the hospital could continue making it available.

The hospital accepted none of these solutions, and though, from the outset, the family planning clinic only operated out of the Center on Thursdays, Lemly, a single mother, was quickly demoted from full-time status to part-time, working only three days a week and suffering a significant salary reduction and loss of benefits.

The Alliance Defense Fund has handled similar cases regarding conscience rights of medical personnel and pharmacists in several states including Washington, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Brian Arabie says the court’s dismissal of the hospital’s motion is encouraging for this particular case.

“Ms. Lemly provided St. Tammany Parish Hospital with options that would have accommodated both her full-time position and their wish to distribute the morning-after abortion pill,” Arabie said. “Instead, the hospital chose to engage in discrimination based on her courageous commitment to the unborn. We are pleased that we will now be able to continue to pursue justice on her behalf.”

A copy of the court’s denial of the hospital’s motion for summary judgment is available at: http://www.telladf.org/UserDocs/LemlyJudgment.pdf. ;

The lawsuit, Lemly vs. St Tammany Parish Hospital District No 1, was filed in June 2005 in the 22nd Judicial District Court for the Parish of St. Tammany.  The petition can be read at: http://www.telladf.org/UserDocs/LemlyPFD.pdf

To respectfully contact:

The President and CEO
Patti Ellish
(985) 898-4018


And Board of Commissioners:
St. Tammany Hospital Foundation
1202 S. Tyler Street
Covington, LA 70433


Foundation Phone: 985.898.4174
Fax: 985.871.5744

See list of Board of Commissioners
http://www.stph.org/aboutus/boardofcommissioners.aspx

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