The Vanderbilt Abortion Decision: How Obama Can Better Protect Civil Rights

Chuck Donovan / January 19, 2011

Vanderbilt University Medical Center made a welcome decision last week and removed from its nurse residency admission application a requirement that students admitted to its women’s health track agree to participate in training to provide abortions.

The decision came just 24 hours after attorneys at the Alliance Defense Fund, a nonprofit legal group, filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) challenging the requirement. Events moved so quickly after the complaint was filed that it is not at all clear that the HHS/OCR played a role in enforcing the law in this instance.

Of much greater importance is the prospect that the HHS/OCR will soon play no role in similar situations in the future. (more…)