Bigots, apparently.
Thank you, Hobby Lobby. The latest in not-the-Onion-Christian-Right lawsuits, nurse Sara Hellwege is suing the Tampa Family Health Centers because she believes she was discriminated against due to her religion.
See, back in April, Sara applied for an open position at the clinic. According to her former Twitter bio she is "an idealist with a hippie side, Christ-follower, nurse-midwifery student, researcher, wife & mother, & enjoy empowering women". Problem is, turns out she only wants to empower women as long as it doesn't have anything to do with their health or right to choose.
TFHC is a clinic committed to, among other things, family planning, contraception, and birth control. In the interview, her resume allegedly stated her connection with the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists which would put her at odds with TFHC's primary services. The interviewer, Chad Lindsey, asked Sara if she would have any problem in providing services like contraception. Sara objected and said she could not because she believes birth control is equivalent to abortion. Reasonably, Lindsey told her that since all positions would require that as apart of the job, there was no point in continuing the interview.
Mrs. Hellwege then went to the Alliance Defending Freedom:
“No one deserves to suffer discrimination just because they’re pro-life,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “Federal and state law make it clear that being pro-abortion cannot be a prerequisite for employment, nor can federally funded facilities force nurses to assist with practices that could lead to an abortion.”
A major issue here, of course, is that she wasn't discriminated against nor was she told that she would be performing abortions. No sense in getting through to them as the Hobby Lobby ruling has only proven the conservatives now consider birth control of
any kind to be equal to abortion. As Hemant Mehta put it: "It makes as much sense as a vegetarian suing Taco Bell for not hiring him even though he told the manager he couldn’t be near meat".
If you think that would stop the ADF in its tracks, think again:
“Willingness to commit an abortion cannot be a litmus test for employment,” added ADF Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden. “All we are asking is for the health center to obey the law and not make a nurse’s employment contingent upon giving up her respect for life.”
That guy, Steven H. Aden, is her attorney and he is a character of his own. Active on Twitter, Aden has shown that he's amazed at the
basic facts to contraceptive health,
thinks people who support abortion also support cannibalism, and
believes that "the Gay Lobby" are trying to destroy the boy scouts. This would be all fun and games except the ADF has quite the extensive history in lobbying for the Christian Right with some major successes. Florida being a wonderful setting to scream for "religious liberty" will likely provide for an excellent base for their agenda. This silly case should deserve some attention as it unfolds.
More below the fold...
The Alliance Defending Freedom was founded in 1994 by 30 Christian ministries and branded itself as the "conservative antithesis" to the ACLU. Committed to defending "Christian legal issues", it was founded by former Reagan Administration prosecutor Alan Sears.
Though well before my time, some of you may remember Sears as the Staff Executive Director for the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography. In 1986, as head of that commission, he sent a petition that successfully cut into the sales of Penthouse and Playboy. Predictably, those two magazines sued and won. Out of disgust, Sears left the Justice Department and a number of years later took his culture war to the newly organized ADF.
Among Sears, other founders included James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family fame, and Don Wildman who also founded the American Family Association. Sears was with like-minded folks as Wildman campaigned against such "lewd" TV shows like Three's Company, and Dobson believes that women and children will have to fear gay "predators".
Others in social conservative circles took notice to this and thought that they too should help out. Major funding for the Alliance Defending Freedom come from the American Center for Law and Justice and the Liberty Counsel. These two organizations were founded by Christian Right crazies Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.
Funding also comes from the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, a name you may have heard tossed around because of their support of 2008's California Proposition 8. What gets creepily deeper into the crazy right's web is that their vice-president, Erik Prince, is a founder to the infamous security contractor Blackwater USA. However, I digress.
With such big names backing the ADF, they have been successful in a couple of major Supreme Court cases:
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000)
This famous case affirmed the BSA's right to discriminate against homosexuals in their organization. The 5-4 decision said that it was a First Amendment right for the Boy Scouts to "freely associate", or in this case "freely nonassociate", with homosexuals.
Schenck v. Pro Choice Network (1997)
Though struck down by the McCullen v. Coakley decision just last month, this case struck down the "floating buffer zone" but upheld the overall buffer zone for family planning clinics. Boy, who woulda thought 1997 would have more protections for women than now?
The ADF is an organization that is well-funded and widely supported by Christian Right heavyweights. Odds are that this may become a national story if it is elevated through the courts, which the ADF certainly has the deep pockets to do and likely wouldn't be opposed to. Considering Hobby Lobby's precedence, how it seems anything goes when it comes to Christian Right crying religious discrimination.