The American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ)has now filed a discrimination complaint against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on behalf of a doctor who was forced out of his job rather than comply with the Biden administration’s attempts to force him to participate in abortions.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the Biden administration directed the VA to begin offering abortions and abortion counseling to service members. Last December, the Trump Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel reversed its judgment allowing such abortions.
On August 6, the ACLJ announced it has filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of a client identified as “Dr. Mohr,” who in 2017 ascended to the role of Chief of Medicine at his VA facility. In 2022, he and his team filed conscientious objection wavers over the Biden abortion policy but was told by his medical director to “either get on board or find another job.” He resigned in June 2023.
In December 2025, with the abortion policy no longer in effect, he applied to return to a position at the same facility. He was accepted, but the same leadership that had originally forced him out was still in place at the center and personally rescinded his job offer in March without explanation, just weeks before he was slated to begin.
“Federal law could not be clearer,” the ACLJ’s Olivia Summers said. “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.”
