Virginia nurse practitioner says CVS fired her over abortion stance

A nurse practitioner from northern Virginia sued CVS Well being on Wednesday, saying she was fired for refusing to offer abortion-inducing medicine at its MinuteClinic medical services.

Within the lawsuit, Paige Casey stated CVS had for years granted her a non secular lodging that allowed her to decide out of prescribing or offering the medicine and sure contraceptives with out incident.

Final yr, although, she says the corporate modified its coverage and stopped offering such lodging.

Casey – who labored for MinuteClinic since 2018, primarily at a facility in Alexandria – appealed to the corporate, saying her Catholic religion teaches her that life begins at conception and he or she couldn’t present care in violation of that precept.

She says she was fired in late March, the identical day she emailed firm officers to reiterate her objections.

Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit authorized group led by conservative Christian Michael Farris, is representing Casey and says Virginia regulation explicitly bars employers from taking disciplinary motion in opposition to workers who object to abortion on ethical or spiritual grounds.

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“Each American ought to have the liberty to function based on their moral and non secular beliefs,” ADF lawyer, Kevin Theriot, who’s representing Casey, stated in a telephone interview.

Michael DeAngelis, a spokesman for Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based CVS, stated the corporate tries to accommodate spiritual beliefs, however stated sexual well being providers are a vital a part of the job at MinuteClinics.

“It’s not attainable … to grant an lodging that exempts an worker from performing the important features of their job,” he stated in a written assertion. “We can not grant exemptions from these important MinuteClinic features.”

Theriot stated there may be little or no case regulation beneath the Virginia statute, partly as a result of “very not often do companies simply come out and fireplace someone due to their spiritual convictions.”

However he stated most states present comparable protections, and federal regulation offers safety as nicely.

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Sufferers who wished contraception or abortion medicines not offered by Casey may merely schedule or be served by different practitioners within the MinuteClinic community, Theriot stated. And that labored seamlessly till CVS modified its coverage, Theriot stated.

“CVS created an issue the place none existed,” he stated.

The lawsuit was filed in Prince William County Circuit Courtroom.