Medical professionals are not “providers” meant to dole out whatever pills or procedures are asked of them. We are doctors, who took a sacred oath to ‘do no harm,’ and our conscience rights (our right to hold to that oath) matter. That’s why we applaud the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) for their recent filing against the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA).
The ACLJ filed a formal charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against the Department of Veterans Affairs on behalf of Dr. Mohr, a board-certified internal medicine physician.
Beginning in 2015, he served as Emergency Department Director, and later Chief of Medicine at a Veterans Affairs medical center, consistently receiving positive evaluations. However, his career took a turn for the worse in 2022 when the Biden Administration announced that VA facilities would begin providing induced abortion and counseling. Mohr filed a conscientious objection waiver, along with the rest of the Emergency Department, due to his religious and pro-life beliefs, but his convictions were met with opposition and threats.
When the medical director told him to “either get on board or find another job,” Dr. Mohr resigned in June 2023.
More than two years later, in December 2025, Mohr applied and was offered another position at the same VA Center. Unfortunately, his offer was rescinded in March 2026 with zero explanation, mere weeks before his start date. The same leadership that had initially threatened him into leaving had again denied him employment.
According to the ACLJ, “The EEOC charge we filed addresses this same pattern of religious and moral discrimination that cost a department head his ability to serve veterans, work that he finds deeply meaningful and rewarding. Federal law could not be clearer. Title VII protects employees from employer discrimination on the basis of religion, and the Coats-Snowe Amendment provides additional protections for health care professionals who decline to participate in, refer for, or facilitate abortions.
“These statutes exist for precisely this situation. Our client’s convictions are sincere and rooted in Scripture. He believes every human life bears the image of God and that participating in the intentional ending of innocent life is a grave sin. Federal law protects that belief. It does not require physicians, including those entrusted with leading an emergency department, to check their conscience at the door.”
AAPLOG is also on the forefront of fighting for conscience protections. In our advocacy for medical conscience rights, AAPLOG Action has recently inspired the Conscience Protections for Medical Residents Act, which was introduced in the United States Senate by Oklahoma Senator James Lankford and the U.S. House of Representatives by Dr. Greg Murphy in November 2025.
Learn more about this policy HERE.
