Sunday, October 8, 1995

The Sooner Catholic

Chicago cop sues to avoid abortion clinic guard detail

By Jay Copp

CHICAGO (CNS) - A Catholic police officer who opposes abortion has sued the city of Chicago to keep from getting any more assignments to guard abortion clinics.

Angelo Rodriguez, 44, filed a civil rights suit against the city Sept. 20 after being sent to guard two different clinics.

Rodriguez, a 15-year veteran of the police force, said in the lawsuit that being assigned to protect patients at abortion clinics was "contrary to his deeply held Roman Catholic religious beliefs" and violates his civil rights.

On Oct. 23, 1993, he was assigned to guard a clinic when antiabortion protests were planned and then put on a rotating detail at the site.

"In standing outside the clinic, Rodriguez could see young mothers entering the clinic to have abortions," according to the suit. "The scene bothered him greatly, and he began to reflect on his role at the clinic in view of his deeply held Roman Catholic religious beliefs that abortion is the wrongful taking of innocent life."

On Jan. 29, 1994, the suit says, Rodriguez explained his position to his watch commander, who told him he would be excluded from such assignments except in an emergency.

"In reflecting on his religious beliefs, Rodriguez became convinced that his presence at the clinic, as a peace-keeping officer, was inconsistent with his beliefs as a Roman Catholic," according to the suit.

In September 1994 he became aware of a provision in the Chicago municipal code that "no employer shall refuse to make all reasonable efforts to accommodate the religious beliefs ... of employees."

On Oct. 7, 1994, he wrote a formal memo, following department procedures, to his district commander about his objections to guarding abortion clinics.

But two months after that memorandum was filed, Rodriguez was again assigned to the clinics, by a different supervisor. He objected, but the supervisor told him he was unaware of the memo or his agreement with the watch commander and that religious beliefs were not a consideration in making assignments. Rodriguez filled the duty under protest.

In the lawsuit, Rodriguez quoted from "The Gospel of Life," Pope John Paul II's recent encyclical, to support his contention that his participation in guarding an abortion clinic amounts to an act against innocent human life.

The suit alleges that the department intentionally violated or acted with reckless indifference to his religious rights as protected by the municipal code and under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a federal law requiring accommodation of religious beliefs.

Rodriguez's suit seeks compensatory damages in addition to protection from assignments that conflict with his religious beliefs.

A statement from the Chicago Archdiocese said Catholic tradition "would support the properly informed decision of an individual who, peacefully and nonviolently, chooses in conscience to witness in a heroic way to the fact that abortion is a grave moral evil and legal injustice."

Father Gary Miller, pastor of St. Pascal Parish, where Rodriguez attends daily Mass, called his parishioner's action "a very brave step.

"He has the courage of his convictions," said Father Miller. "We're all bound to follow our conscience. There is a higher law than the legal law or the mores of society."

A police department spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said Rodriguez's job is not at risk.

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