Lawyers for a Catholic nurse in New York who was forced to participate in an abortion under threat of disciplinary 
action filed a second lawsuit against the hospital on Friday.
The lawyers, funded by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a US group which assists in cases where religious freedom is threatened, filed the lawsuit against Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York state court.
The case is in addition to pro-life nurse Cathy Cenzon-DeCarlo’s federal lawsuit, which is on appeal, because her rights of conscience are also protected by New York law.
“Pro-life nurses shouldn’t be forced to assist in abortions against their beliefs,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “It is illegal, unethical, and a violation of Cathy’s rights of conscience as a devout Catholic to require her to participate in terminating the life of a 22-week pre-born child. It was not only wrong, it was needless.”
Senior staff at the hospital threatened Ms DeCarlo with disciplinary measures in May 2009 if she did not comply with a last-minute summons to assist in a scheduled late-term abortion.
The hospital insisted on her participation in the procedure, claiming that it was an “emergency,” even though the hospital did not classify the procedure as such. The hospital has known of the Catholic nurse’s religious objections to abortion since 2004.
In the newly filed state suit, lawyers ADF will argue that Mt. Sinai is violating state conscience laws, as well as state laws against religious employment discrimination and intentionally inflicting emotional distress on an individual.
“An individual’s conscience is often what brings health care workers into the medical field,” said lead counsel Joseph Ruta. “Denying or coercing their conscience will likely drive them right out.”
ADF attorneys filed the federal suit in July 2009, claiming Mt. Sinai ignored federal laws prohibiting such coercion while receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.
The hospital claimed that Ms Cenzon-DeCarlo had no right to sue. ADF attorneys also sent a letter in March urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to take action against the hospital for its unlawful coercive treatment of DeCarlo.