Nurse wins fight for beliefs. (Making A Difference).

Cynthia Day of Marrero, Louisiana, is a Public Health Nurse III employed by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (LDHH). For nearly a decade she has worked at a state clinic in New Orleans that offers family-planning services.

Day balks at giving "morning-after" pills to women. (Unlike contraceptives intended to prevent pregnancy, "morning-after" pills are designed to destroy human embryos within 72 hours following conception.) She firmly believes that life begins at conception, and that it is sacred. The deadly pills, she points out, are abortifacients that terminate innocent human life.

Day explained her religious convictions to supervisors on numerous occasions. Health officials responded with a letter last September 9th that criticized her stance and threatened to fire her. The missive also asserted that reassignment to a post that would not require violation of her pro-life beliefs was not an option.

Day refused to back down. She sought help from the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), an international public interest law firm based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, that specializes in constitutional law and protecting human life. In late October, the ACLJ filed formal complaints against the LDHH with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Louisiana Commission on Human Rights, claiming that Day was a victim of illegal employment discrimination based on her deeply held religious convictions.

Even as the complaints were being filed, however, Day received another letter from health authorities. Dated October 22, 2002, it proposed that she be suspended for five days without pay. In the wake of the complaints, however, the authorities had second thoughts. On October 25th, Madeline W. McAndrew, assistant secretary of the LDHH, sent Day yet another letter, this time confirming that the department was "rescinding the proposed action and will accommodate your request based on religious and moral grounds." Officials had been instructed, McAndrew continued, to "immediately remove you from any duties that require you to discuss or provide the emergency contraception pill." Moreover, a list of "reassignment opportunities" would be made available "for future permanent duty assignments to accommodate your request." McAndrew apologized "for the ordeal that you have gone through."

An October 28th ACLJ press release described the outcome as "a very important victory in one of the fastest growing areas of pro-life litigation-protecting the conscience rights of health care workers." Senior counsel Stuart J. Roth, who represented Day, was quoted as saying: "From the beginning, our client just wanted to do her job without violating her conscience.... Unfortunately, it took formal action ... and publicity about the case before the state agreed to do what it should have done all along--stop threatening and criticizing our client and permit her to work without violating her religious beliefs."