Nurse Denied Employment, Forced to Resign
A Two Tiered System of Civil Rights
British Columbia, Canada (1977-1984)
Registered Nurse Linda Bradley had been
refused employment at four British Columbia hospitals when she applied to work at Richmond
General Hospital in 1977. Langley Memorial, Peace Arch Hospital, Delta Hospital and
Vancouver General had all denied her employment because she was unwilling to assist in
abortions. When asked if she would assist in abortions at Richmond General, she
agreed. By that time she was desperate for a job.
Nurse Bradley was involved with abortions at Richmond General for about two years,
assisting at about nine abortions monthly. The abortions occupied a total of about
four hours of her work each month.
One day, however, she was told to scrub for a hysterotomy of a woman 5 1/2 months
pregnant. A hysterotomy is a Caesarean section performed for the sole purpose of
killing the child. Reason for the abortion: "multiparity". The woman
had had previous pregnancies.
Bradley was horrified. She advised her supervisor that she would not assist.
If she refused to assist in this abortion, she was asked, would she would assist with
other abortions? Shaken by what was being demanded of her, Bradley said she could no
longer do so. Advised that this was a condition of employment, she consulted the
Registered Nurses Association of BC. Acting on RNABC's advice, she resigned rather
than forcing the hospital to fire her. She did this to avoid tarnishing her record
with RNABC, which would have jeopardized her career.
Appealing to the British Columbia Human Rights tribunal, Linda Bradley was told that she
was not eligible for protection because her refusal was for moral and not religious
reasons.
Nurse Bradley found work at St. Vincent's Hospital, and later at the Grace Hospital.
When the Grace Hospital closed in 1982 its operations were transferred to a new medical
centre on Oak Street. Bradley, an operating room nurse with 15 years experience, was
told that she could keep her position only if she assisted in abortions. As a
result, she went to Children's Hospital, and eventually left the nursing profession.
She has not worked in the health care field since 1984.
Canadians are familiar with warnings that Medicare should not be allowed to develop into a
two-tiered health care system: first class treatment for the rich, and second class (or
worse) for the poor.
Commenting in retrospect on her experience, Bradley said, "They've set up a two
tiered system of civil rights: one for people with money to hire a lawyer and take an
employer to court, and another for the rest of us."
She added, "It may be a two tiered system, but there's no way of winning even if you
have the money to fight it."