A Texas nurse practitioner has filed a religious discrimination complaint against CVS Pharmacy, which she says fired her over her faith-based opposition to prescribing contraception.
In a complaint filed Tuesday with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Robyn Stader says the CVS MinuteClinic in Keller, Texas, had granted her a religious exemption for more than six years until August 2021, when it announced it would no longer grant such accommodations for pregnancy prevention services.
Ms. Stader, a longtime Baptist, says she was fired three months later and lost her benefits.
“CVS accommodated Robyn for more than six years without any problems. It’s bad medicine to force religious health care professionals to choose between their faith and their job, especially at a time when we need as many health care professionals as we can get,” said attorney Christine Pratt of First Liberty Institute, which is representing Ms. Stader.
The EEOC complaint accuses CVS of violating Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act for dropping “a six-year religious accommodation without cause.” It says the pharmacy chain “refused to consider her request for an ongoing religious accommodation, failed to engage with her about possible accommodations, and terminated her because of her religious belief.”
A spokeswoman at CVS’ corporate headquarters in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Times.
Ms. Stader said she “cannot participate in facilitating an abortion or participate in facilitating contraceptive use.” When patients asked her for contraception services, she either referred them to a colleague at the clinic or to another facility about two miles away, she said.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.