Four Washington, DC rookies in the Washington, DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department aborted their children for fear of losing their jobs after they were threatened with job termination if they became pregnant or took medical leave.
In July, 2001, Samanthia Robinson, interim assistant chief of operations for the Washington, DC fire department’s Emergency Medical Service (EMS) told about eight female medical rookies that they could not become pregnant because they were on probation for a year and have no job benefits, according to the Kenneth Lyons, chairman of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3721, five department sources and union attorney Louis Malone.
Lyons said that “The female medics were told if they get pregnant the first year, they will be fired. … This is disgusting to me … that this could happen in this day and age, in an agency that vows first and foremost to do no harm. .. This unwritten policy is one that has existed over years. … female firefighters now are saying they were under the impression, given their orientation, that this was the policy. We even have some females saying they withheld from having children for the first five years of employment because they were told this.”
One of the rookies, who was pregnant at the time, expressed concern to Robinson when supervisors were giving out ambulance assignments, the sources said. Robinson then told her she should get an abortion if she wanted to keep her job, Lyons and the sources said. So the pregnant rookie got an abortion.
Just after assignments were made to in-field units, “one of the females approached the interim chief of EMS operations, Samanthia Robinson, and informed her that she was, indeed, pregnant and she wanted to start a family,” Lyons said. “According to the young lady, [Robinson told her] that she had a choice to make and that choice will depend on whether or not you maintain your employment with this agency. She then went out and had an abortion,” he said.
Robinson “basically strong-armed her into getting an abortion,” said a fire department source who has spoken to the rookie about the problem. “Those comments are blatantly illegal,” and violate the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, said Malone, who represents AFGE Local 3721, whose members includes medics and emergency medical technicians in the department.
After having the abortion, the young lady requested time off to recuperate and was denied leave and forced back on duty, said Lyons. “She was forced to return to the street and started to hemorrhage,” he said.
The threat of job termination and Robinson’s suggestion so frightened the woman that she felt compelled to have an abortion even though she is a Roman Catholic, said sources, including one who has spoken to her about the problem. The woman got the abortion “directly as a result” of Robinson “telling her she couldn’t keep her job and be pregnant,” said a fire department source who has spoken to the woman about the situation.
The woman, 21, is trying to avoid publicity because she is still distraught, and the abortion has caused a rift with her family, several department sources said. “She is young, religious, scared and ashamed,” said one source. “She feels she has morally abused herself.”
Other department sources, including a medic who recently worked with her, echoed that characterization. “This poor girl. She’s a young girl, naive and would do anything to save her job,” said one medic who has worked with the woman. “She was given the impression that that’s what she had to do for her job, so she went out and did it.”
The woman has suffered medical problems since the abortion, according to Lyons, medics who have worked with the her and other department sources. Several department sources who have worked with the woman have described her as “distraught.”
Officials with the medic’s union have been collecting statements from the rookies who said they were threatened. Many have been hesitant to provide the written accounts because they fear retaliation, Lyons said. Lyons told The Washington Times that he raised the matter with Chief Few, and the chief later told him that Robinson denied making the statement. Malone confirmed that Lyons had brought the matter to Chief Few in the past several weeks, and that the chief issued a denial.
One source said the woman has been subject to harassment by supervisors as word of the incident has spread within the department.
Malone said at least 10 women in the department have called him in the past few weeks to recount other incidents where officials discriminated against them because of pregnancy. “When they heard about this, it has really triggered their consciousness,” he said.
Paul Strauss, shadow senator for the District, is Robinson’s lawyer. Strauss said Robinson was being “unfairly attacked,” and that the accusations against her may have been politically motivated.
A final report on the incidents by the Office of the District of Columbia Inspector General, substantiated the women’s claims and recommended “appropriate disciplinary action” be taken against Robinson. The Inspector General’s investigators interviewed the nine members of the class and “based on a preponderance of the evidence” concluded that Robinson “improperly advised EMT trainees that female EMTs could be terminated if they became pregnant during the first year of employment. … Robinson’s statements in this regard violated official District government policy prohibiting the termination of government women based solely on their pregnancy.”
Five of the nine members of the class specifically remembered Robinson telling trainees they could lose their jobs if they became pregnant. The other four class members remembered Robinson advising the new hires not to become pregnant during their probationary year because they could be fired for any reason.
Robinson denied advising the trainees they could be terminated for becoming pregnant, but the report says Robinson exhibited a “lack of candor” during her interview with investigators. It said her statements were “not credible in the face of consistent and contrary recollections of so many witnesses. Based on a preponderance of the evidence developed during the investigation, it is reasonable to conclude that Robinson improperly advised EMT trainees that female EMTs could be terminated if they became pregnant during the first year of employment.”
Fire department sources say Robinson was offered a choice between retirement and a demotion to a nonsupervisory field-medic position. She chose retirement. But Strauss said Robinson stands by her version of events and that she was not forced into retirement. Strauss did not rule out the possibility of filing a lawsuit on Robinson’s behalf, saying he will “advise her of her options.”
Some punishment! You can bet the bank that, if Robinson had been pro-life and tried to prevent an abortion-minded EMT from aborting her baby, she would have been thrown out of her job and probably jailed.
As a predictable aside, not a single pro-choice organization condemned these forced abortions and attempted forced abortions.
References: “Official Disciplined for Threatening Job Loss for Pregnancy: Government Employees Had Abortions Fearing They Would Lose Their Jobs.” LifeSite Daily News at http://www.lifesite.net, August 14, 2002; “EMS Supervisor Disciplined in Coercive Abortion Case.” Washington Times, August 14, 2002; Steve Ertelt’s Pro-Life Infonet at http://www.prolifeinfo.org, August 15, 2002; “Fearing Job Discrimination, DC Woman “Forced” to Have Abortion.” Washington Times, August 30, 2001; John Drake. “Union Backs 4 Women Who Claim Abortions Out of Fear.” The Washington Times, August 31, 2001; “More DC Medics Say They Were Forced to Have Abortions.” Washington Times, Cybercast News Service, August 31, 2001; Matthew Cella. “EMS Chief Who Coerced Medics Abortions Retires.” Washington Times, September 23, 2002; Steve Ertelt’s Pro-Life Infonet, September 25, 2002; Steven Ertelt’s Pro-Life Infonet, October 3, 2001; Ted Olsen. “Forcing Abortions: Mandated Abortions Happen in the U.S., Too.” Christianity Today Magazine, November 18, 2002 [Volume 46, Number 12], page 21.
Source: Abortionviolence.com
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