Hey, there! Log in / Register

Catholic nurse who believes Covid-19 vaccines involve aborted fetuses sues Boston Medical Center for firing her after she refused to get shots

A former RN at Boston Medical Center is the latest to sue the hospital for firing her last October, saying her rights under the First Amendment and federal equal-opportunity laws were violated because she provided proof of religious reasons she shouldn't get the shots.

In her lawsuit, filed yesterday in US District Court, Kathleen Anastos says that as a Catholic, she could not in good conscience get shots that she feels were either made with or cultured on cell lines derived from aborted fetuses.

Although Pope Francis has urged Catholics to get vaccinated as "an act of love," and Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who publicly got vaccinated Anastos filed an exemption request with a letter from her then parish priest, Timothy Hynes of St. Mary in Foxboro, who in turn cited Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana, Kazahkstan:

As a Catholic, she knows that human life is sacred at all stages of its development, from conception to natural death. Accordingly, she refuses any cooperation with the evil of abortion, no matter how remote.

Sadly, at this time all available COVID-19 vaccines are tested and/or manufactured using an aborted 18-week-old fetal cell line HEK-(human embryonic kidney) 293 [2]. As Bishop Athanasius Schneider notes, "the use of an abortion-tainted vaccine is a much more personal confrontation, and a much closer meeting, with the monstrous crimes involved in its production." So much so, that the bishop concludes that “we cannot benefit in any way from their 'by-products'. As a result, he and others like him such as Kathleen Anastos, refuse to take these vaccines, following the guidance of their well-formed conscience which the Church recognizes as a person’s highest moral authority.

His letter, which Anastos filed with her request to the hospital for an exemption ends:

Please do not make Kathleen choose between her career and her conscience.

In addition to considering abortions and anything derived from them as an "abomination," Anastos also objects to the way mRNA vaccines get cells to turn out Covid-19 spikes that the immune system then begins to build antibodies against:

I am created in God’s image and likeness. Injecting a substance that is a blueprint for the cells in my body to produce foreign spike proteins changes my body in ways unintended by my Creator.

Anastos is the latest BMC nurse to sue the hospital. All are represented by Peter Vickery, an Amherst attorney who normally works with employers to fight discrimination cases. Other nurses have cited Mother Nature and spinal adjustment as religious reasons for exemptions.

As in the other cases brought by his clients, Anastos's complaint also states that even if it weren't for religious reasons, the shots are pointless because they fail to protect against infection and spread.

Neighborhoods: 
Topics: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon Complete complaint371.83 KB
PDF icon Priest's letter165.55 KB


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

Does she know how many foreign proteins the cells in her body will be coerced to produce if she catches a virus? Except those proteins will kill people rather than reduce the risk of killing them.

up
Voting closed 0

Does she know that the Pope has not only okayed the vaccine but encourages people to get vaccinated?

up
Voting closed 0

Looks like her parish priest, Timothy Hynes, went Bishop-shopping for her, and found an anti-vax one in Kazakhstan, of all places. Sort of like how trump goes judge-shopping when he files one of his nonsense appeals.

up
Voting closed 0

But this clearly isn't about either the actual science or the dictates of her religion.

up
Voting closed 0

I say might have a chance to be reinstated. Although the Pope overrules any Bishop that's not what the religious exemption form asks for.

"In some cases, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will need to obtain additional information and/or documentation about your religious practices or beliefs and may need to discuss the nature of your religious beliefs, practices, or accommodation with your religious spiritual leader (if applicable) or religious scholars to address your request for an exemption."

I'm guessing that Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana, Kazahkstan would count as a religious scholar. But no way does he have authority over her diocese.

up
Voting closed 0

I say might have a chance to be reinstated

No, absolutely not. No amount of belief and no number of proclamations from men wearing funny hats and flying suits is reason to reinstate someone who will not follow good health practices to a position delivering patient care.

up
Voting closed 0