Pro-Life Nurse Refuses to Assist in Abortion, Hospital Concedes

December 18, 2006
Pro-Life Nurse Refuses to Assist in Abortion, Hospital Concedes

by Kim Trobee

If you ever wondered what difference one person can make, wait until you hear about Mary Bauer.

At 48, Bauer changed careers, got a degree in nursing and accepted a position in the labor and delivery unit at a Chicago hospital. But it’s what happened on her first full day of work, and her reaction to it, that really set Mary apart.

Fresh from orientation and looking forward to her new job, Bauer was told she would be assisting in the abortion of a 22-week old unborn baby with Down syndrome.

“And 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.’”

She went home that night, unsure of whether she would keep her job, and did two things. First, she requested prayer from friends and second, she researched Illinois law. Bauer found two statutes that protect the right of a healthcare worker to object on moral grounds. She went back to work and told her co-workers.

“You can say no too!’ They never knew they had a choice and they said, ‘We always thought this was part of our job and we had to do it.’”

Her prayers were answered. The hospital responded favorably, adopting a policy to protect workers from taking part in morally objectionable tasks. But Chuck Donovan with the Family Research Council says not every healthcare worker experiences such a happy ending.

“I would be fearful that, for many healthcare professionals, they sort of suffer in silence and fear that there will be no one to come to their aid. I would hope that that would not be the conclusion, but we have much work to do.”

He’s hopeful that, even in the upcoming liberal Congress, the Abortion Nondiscrimination Act will see movement.

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