by Kate Anderson
CVS Health Corporation settled with nurse practitioner Robyn Strader (pictured above) after she sued the company after it stopped providing religious accommodations regarding “pregnancy prevention services.”
Strader said she had been granted a religious exemption for six years permitting her to not prescribe contraceptives, and filed the lawsuit in January 2023 after having been fired following the policy change in 2021, according to the press release. First Liberty Institute, which represented Strader, announced Monday that CVS had agreed to a settlement of which the terms “were not made public.”
“We are thrilled that Robyn was able to reach a resolution with CVS,” Stephanie Taub, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, said in the press release. “We are hopeful that companies across the country will recognize the religious liberty of their employees and work to protect those rights.”
🎉 VICTORY: We've reached a settlement with CVS on behalf of client Robyn Strader. This TX nurse practitioner wanted a religious accommodation from prescribing contraceptive medication that she believed could end the development or life of an unborn child. https://t.co/npr5yLnimi
— First Liberty Institute (@1stLiberty) May 20, 2024
“We can confirm a settlement was reached. We are pleased that this matter has been resolved,” Mike DeAngelis, CVS executive director of corporate communications, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Strader had worked at a CVS Minute Clinic in Texas since 2015 and had been able to send patients requesting contraceptive services to another practitioner either at the same location or nearby, according to the lawsuit. She argued that the company had retaliated against her for her religious beliefs.
Strader’s lawsuit requested that CVS be stopped from enforcing its policy and provide “compensation for past and future pecuniary losses.”
“Respecting the religious beliefs of workers and providing reasonable accommodations is not optional under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. We are pleased for Robyn,” Jonathan Berry, a managing partner at Boyden Gray PLLC, which also represented Strader, said in the press release.
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Kate Anderson is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Robyn Strader” by First Liberty Institute. Background photo “Emergency Room” by daveynin CC2.0.
