JAMES FORD PIX11.com

6:30 p.m. EST, November 9, 2011
NEWARK AND FAIR LAWN, N.J. (PIX11)—
In the ongoing debate between people who are pro-life and pro-choice, a group of nurses says they were forced by the hospital they work for to choose between their livelihoods and saving the lives of the unborn.

"I don't believe in abortion," Nurse Fe Vinoya told PIX11 News. "I think it's killing the babies." Vinoya is a 22-year veteran critical care nurse at UMDNJ Medical Center in Newark, one of New Jersey's largest hospitals. She said that because of a change in hospital policy last month, she and a group of fifteen other critical care nurses was ordered to train in abortion practice and care. "It is not right," Vinoya said. "They shouldn't force any of us."

In their legal filing, the nurses say that a supervising nurse insisted that all of her staff nurses be trained in terminating pregnancies and be ready to participate in them. Vinoya said it was in direct opposition to her beliefs, and to the reasons why she entered the medical field in the first place. "I am committed to preserving life, saving life, and I think elective abortion is murder," she said.

"They're being forced to choose between their faith and their job," Demetrios Stratis, the Fair Lawn attorney for the nurses, told PIX11 News. "In these economic times, that's a very difficult choice to make."

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against UMDNJ, restricting it from forcing nurses to play a role in abortions. However, the hospital insists in a statement, "No nurse is compelled to have direct involvement in, and/or attendance in the room at the time of, a procedure to which she or he objects based on his/her cultural values, ethics and/or religious beliefs. The University is in full compliance with all applicable state and federal laws and is confident its position will be vindicated when the court gives this matter a full hearing."

As statements from both sides show, they agree on one thing. "Someone is not being truthful," Stratis told PIX11. UMDNJ made a similar comment about him: “Statements in the media by an attorney identified as representing the interests of nurses employed by UMDNJ are not accurate," UMDNJ spokesperson Jeffrey Tolvin said in a released statement.

The two sides also agree that the truth about the hospital's abortion training requirements will come out in court as their case goes to trial in the months ahead.