Nurse’s Refusal to Assist in Abortion Leads to Hospital Policy Protecting Conscience Rights
By Gudrun Schultz
CHICAGO, Illinois,
December 19, 2006

(LifeSiteNews.com) - A nurse’s refusal to participate in the abortion of a baby with Down Syndrome led a Chicago hospital to develop a policy protecting the right of health-care workers to refuse on moral grounds, Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink reported yesterday.

Mary Bauer was 48 when she decided to enter nursing, eventually taking a position in the obstetrics unit at a Chicago hospital. On her first day at work, she was told she would be participating in the abortion of a baby diagnosed with Down Syndrome, at 22-weeks gestation.

Bauer refused."I just told them, ‘I can’t take that patient. I’m very pro-life. I cannot participate in any way, shape or form. I just can’t do it, so I need an alternate assignment," Bauer told CitizenLink.Fearful that she would lose her position, Bauer investigated Illinois law and discovered two statues protecting health-care workers who object to participating in medical procedures on moral grounds. the rest