{"id":1371790,"date":"2022-03-11T10:49:47","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T15:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1371790"},"modified":"2022-03-11T15:50:56","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T20:50:56","slug":"a-constitutional-trainwreck-nun-sues-d-c-mayor-over-covid-19-vaccination-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-constitutional-trainwreck-nun-sues-d-c-mayor-over-covid-19-vaccination-mandate\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A Constitutional Trainwreck\u2019: Nun Sues D.C. Mayor Over COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fa-constitutional-trainwreck-nun-sues-d-c-mayor-over-covid-19-vaccination-mandate%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1371790&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/03\/CBD8488B-F76B-46C3-92C9-043AA4115D63_1_201_a-scaled.jpeg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A nun, who is also a board-certified surgeon and retired U.S. Army colonel, has sued the District of Columbia for refusing to grant her a religious exemption to the city\u2019s COVID-19 vaccination mandate.<\/p>\n<p>Sister Deidre \u201cDede\u201d Byrne worked as a physician and served a tour in Afghanistan before becoming a nun. She now oversees and practices medicine inside a free clinic operated by the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heartbeatinternational.org\/our-work\/apr\/itemlist\/tag\/abortion%20pill%20reversal\">offers<\/a> abortion pill reversals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSister Dierdre has sought \u2014 and been denied \u2014 a religious exemption from DC\u2019s health worker COVID-19 vaccination mandate,\u201d said attorney Christopher Ferrara of the <a href=\"https:\/\/thomasmoresociety.org\/\">Thomas More Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As a Roman Catholic, \u201cshe can have nothing to do with abortion-connected vaccines,\u201d Ferrara <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tXZNiI0bE3I\">told<\/a> Fox News\u2019 \u201cThe Ingraham Angle\u201d Thursday night. Yet all three COVID-19 vaccines approved in the United States have involved the use of cell lines derived from an abortion somewhere in the development or production process.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Johnson &#038; Johnson designed, developed, and <a href=\"https:\/\/lozierinstitute.org\/update-covid-19-vaccine-candidates-and-abortion-derived-cell-lines\/\">produced<\/a> its vaccine using the PER.C6, a cell line derived from an abortion <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/fact-checking-529913215948\">performed<\/a> in 1985; and<\/li>\n<li>Both Modern and Pfizer tested their vaccines on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.nd.gov\/sites\/www\/files\/documents\/COVID%20Vaccine%20Page\/COVID-19_Vaccine_Fetal_Cell_Handout.pdf\">HEK293 cell line, a line<\/a> of fetal kidney cells derived from an abortion performed in 1973.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Although D.C. officials \u201cconceded the sincerity of Sister Deidre\u2019s religious objection to being vaccinated,\u201d they denied her request and \u201chave not granted a single request for religious exemption from the Vaccine Mandate,\u201d according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/thomasmoresociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Sr.-Deiredre-v-Bowser-file-3.pdf\">legal complaint<\/a> filed on the nun\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n<p>The sister says the city gave her five days to get vaccinated and, when she refused to comply, the city suspended her medical license.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve closed my clinics for the month. I can\u2019t see patients. I just can\u2019t help anyone,\u201d Sister Dede <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/250642\/catholic-nun-doctor-deirdre-byrne-vaccine-mandate\">told<\/a> \u201cThe World Over\u201d host Raymond Arroyo of EWTN. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m just a little tip of an arrow of so many people who are being forced to do the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ferrara says that officials dithered for six months in analyzing her petition for a religious exemption before turning her down on the grounds that \u201c[g]ranting your request would create an undue hardship upon DC Health.\u201d Ferrara says that gambit is legally untenable, because only an employer can cite an \u201cundue burden,\u201d and the nun does not work for the health department.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis represents yet another example of the intersection of politics and bureaucratic intransigence, and religious liberty. And the result is a constitutional trainwreck,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Ferrara has sued Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, the director of the District of Columbia Department of Health, and the District itself to allow the sister to resume her medical ministry.<\/p>\n<p>The city\u2019s actions violate the First Amendment and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/103rd-congress\/house-bill\/1308\/text\">Religious Freedom Restoration Act<\/a>, which President Bill Clinton\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/WCPD-1993-11-22\/pdf\/WCPD-1993-11-22-Pg2377.pdf\">signed<\/a>\u00a0in 1993, he argues. RFRA bars the government from forcing anyone to violate his or her deeply held religious beliefs unless it can prove it is acting to further a \u201ccompelling government interest\u201d and is using \u201cthe least restrictive means\u201d possible.<\/p>\n<p>Her attorneys say the city allowed her to volunteer her medical expertise during the height of the pandemic when no vaccine existed, and that she has natural immunity after having contracted the coronavirus.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to her duties at the convent and its <em>pro bono <\/em>medical clinic, Sister Dede gained a national profile after she spoke about the right to life during the 2020 Republican National Convention. As The Daily Wire reported, Sister Dede told the\u00a0RNC:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>\u201cAs a physician, I can say, without hesitation, life begins at conception,\u201d she said. \u201cWhile what I have to say may be difficult for some to hear, I am saying it because I\u2019m not just pro-life, I\u2019m pro-eternal life, and I want all of us to end up in heaven together someday.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWhich brings me to why I\u2019m here today. Donald Trump is the most pro-life President that this nation has ever had, defending life at all stages,\u201d she continued. \u201cHis belief in the sanctity of life transcends politics. President Trump will stand up against Biden-Harris, who are the most anti-life presidential ticket ever, even supporting the horrors of late-term abortion and infanticide.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>She went on to call the unborn \u201cthe largest marginalized group in the world.\u201d \u201cFollowers of Christ,\u201d she said, \u201care called to stand up for life against the politically correct or fashionable of today.\u201d<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lauraingraham.com\/\">Laura Ingraham<\/a> offered the sister words of support and encouragement. \u201cWe need you out there serving this community and the D.C. area,\u201d Ingraham told Sister Dede, an icon of Jesus peeking out from behind the nun\u2019s right shoulder. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be praying for you and for all those who are seeking exemption from these types of mandates.\u201d<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A nun, who is also a board-certified surgeon and retired U.S. Army colonel, has sued the District of Columbia for refusing to grant her a religious exemption to the city\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1371790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1371790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1371790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1371790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1371790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1371790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1371790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}