More DC Medics Say They Were Forced to Have Abortions
Washington Times
Cybercast News
Service, August 31, 2001
Reproduced with permission
Washington, DC -- Three more women in the Washington D.C. Fire and
Emergency Medical Services Department say they had abortions because they
were threatened with job termination, in addition to a rookie who
terminated her pregnancy out of fear, a medic union official said
yesterday.
The three women said they were told as rookies that they could not become
pregnant and take leave, and they must have an abortion if they wanted to
stay employed, medic union leader Kenneth Lyons said at a news conference.
"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," said
Lyons, chairman of the American Federation of Government Employees Local
3721, which represents medics and emergency medical technicians.
The District's top public safety official yesterday said Fire Chief Ronnie
Few "is personally involved" in an internal investigation in the
matter and Mayor Anthony A. Williams "made it clear he wanted this
investigated and taken very seriously."
"The mayor is personally concerned that this be investigated
fully," said Margret Kellems, deputy mayor for public safety and
justice. "We take it very, very seriously."
Earlier reports indicated a 21-year-old rookie said she had an abortion
this summer after a supervisor told her she could not be pregnant and keep
her job because she was on probation. Lyons and five fire department
sources identified the supervisor as Samanthia Robinson, interim assistant
chief of operations for EMS. The threat of job termination and Robinson's
suggestion so frightened the woman that she had an abortion, even though
she is a Catholic, said Lyons and the sources, including one who has
spoken to her about the problem.
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.
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.
Kellems said the D.C. Office of Human Rights has been notified of the
situation. Federal and city law prohibit discrimination against pregnant
women. "This is not going to be a perfunctory examination," she
said. "All allegations will be taken seriously and fully
investigated."
Kellems said she was not aware that other women in the fire department
said they too had abortions for fear of losing their jobs after they were
threatened. She said any other charges "would be part of an
investigation."
"If there is any indication there is a larger problem than an
individual circumstance, we will look into that ... until we believe we've
addressed the entire issue," Kellems said. She refused to provide
details of the investigation, such as who was conducting it, when it would
be complete or whether Robinson had been suspended.
"Ms. Robinson does not wish to speak to you," fire department
spokeswoman Denise Reed told The Washington Times yesterday.
Asked if officials would administer a polygraph to Robinson, Kellems said,
"I can't get into what may or may not be the strategies and
investigative tools."
Lyons said the rookie medical worker and others fear reprisals from
supervisors and stigma from publicity. He said the internal investigation
will "victimize them twice." The rookie is trying to avoid
publicity because she is distraught and the abortion has caused a rift
with her family, department sources said.
"The department has more than enough information to investigate
this," Lyons said, adding that the department should change its
policy about pregnancy or hold the supervisor accountable for her
comments.
Kellems said she has not read the fire department's policies on pregnancy
and leave, "but I cannot imagine" that rookies are not allowed
to be pregnant. "That would be intolerable," she said. "If
you walk around the fire department, there are lots of pregnant women
there."
Robinson told a class of about 10 rookie medic workers that they could not
become pregnant and were not entitled to medical leave if they did, Lyons
and department sources said. Seven of those rookies have corroborated the
account of Robinson's comments, said Lyons.
Lyons also said that many of the employees are hesitant to talk with the
union for fear of losing their jobs. "They were told that if any of
this got out to the public, they would be severely reprimanded to the
degree of possibly being terminated because they were in their first year
of employment," he said.
Lyons added that many employees were falsely informed that they did not
have rights under the union because it was their first year with the
agency.
Other findings by the local union insinuate that this policy of keeping
women from becoming pregnant goes further.
"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," Lyons said.
Even though the fire department does not have such a policy, he says upper
management continued to adopt the unwritten rule.
Louis Malone, the union's attorney, said his firm was examining what legal
recourse to take for the woman who had the abortion and others.