After Nurse’s Lawsuit, Veterans Affairs Creates New Rule Recognizing Nationwide Religious Accommodations

Stephanie Carter, a Christian, a U.S. Army veteran, and a nurse practitioner, works for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center in Temple, Texas.

The VA twice rejected her requests for a religious accommodation after the department implemented a rule in 2022 to provide abortion counseling and abortions for pregnant veterans and beneficiaries if the woman’s life or health is in danger or in cases of rape or incest.

Texas bans abortions after six weeks, so Carter, who opposes abortion, also thought she’d be in legal jeopardy if forced to participate. She filed a lawsuit alleging violation of her First Amendment right to religious freedom.

Carter won her religious accommodation last summer, and the VA began implementing the process nationwide. Her lawsuit paved way. First Liberty Institute, her legal counsel, announced on Monday that a religious accommodation process for all employees who oppose killing the unborn is now part of a new rule in the VA.

“We’re pleased that the VA will continue to recognize the nationwide religious accommodation policy it implemented after our client, Stephanie Carter, filed a lawsuit when she was twice denied a religious accommodation to not participate in abortion services because a process did not exist,” said Danielle Runyan, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute. “Every VA employee in the nation can now continue to seek a religious accommodation from participating in a procedure they find unconscionable.”

Photo credit: First Liberty Institute