ACLJ Files Against VA After Physician Forced Out Over Abortion Conscience Objections

At the ACLJ, we continue standing with a highly qualified, board-certified internal medicine physician who served as Emergency Department Director and later Chief of Medicine at a Veterans Affairs medical center – until he was forced to resign rather than violate his deeply held Christian beliefs by facilitating abortions.

Today we have taken another significant step in his case: On his behalf, we have filed a formal charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against the Department of Veterans Affairs.

As we detailed previously, Dr. Mohr began clinical work in the Emergency Department in 2015, became its Director in 2016, and was elevated to Chief of Medicine in 2017. He consistently received excellent evaluations.

After the Biden Administration announced in 2022 that VA facilities would begin providing abortion care and counseling, he and his entire Emergency Department filed conscientious objection waivers. Leadership responded with pressure and threats.

The Medical Director told Dr. Mohr he was “administration” and could “either get on board or find another job,” and threatened to rescind his waiver. Our client resigned at the end of June 2023 rather than compromise his faith.

In December 2025, a position opened at that same VA. Dr. Mohr applied and received an offer of employment. However, the same leadership that had threatened him in 2023 personally rescinded his offer in March – just weeks before he was supposed to start work – with no explanation.

Sign our petition: Stop Forcing Doctors and Nurses To Perform Abortions.

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.

What makes this case particularly troubling is the pattern of retaliation against a leader who stood against pressure to violate his and his employees’ religious beliefs. Leadership conditioned continued employment, promotion opportunities, and seemingly even a later return to clinical service on his willingness to act against his conscience and to undermine those of his subordinates.

This should concern every American. If the government can force a department head to choose between his faith and his livelihood, that precedent threatens conscience rights across medicine. Veterans deserve excellent care from professionals of integrity, not a system that purges those whose moral convictions differ from shifting political priorities.

Through the EEOC process, we seek a full investigation, a finding that the facility violated federal anti-discrimination and conscience statutes, meaningful corrective action, and assurances against future retaliation.

Protecting conscience is not a partisan issue. It is a foundational American principle. No physician should have to abandon their deepest moral convictions to serve those who sacrificed for our country.

The ACLJ will continue standing with Dr. Mohr and others like him. We will not rest until federal agencies understand that conscience protections are binding law that must be enforced.

Join us. Sign our petition to defend these brave medical personnel and stop forcing doctors and nurses to perform or facilitate abortions.