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A former physician assistant student of Springfield College in Massachusetts is suing the institution, alleging that she was kicked out of its program because she expressed discomfort with watching a second trimester abortion as a part of a clinical rotation, according to a July 30 report from The College Fix.
Catholic Alina Thopurathu watched the abortion in November 2022 while training in a hospital in the Baystate Health system in Massachusetts, which allows abortion through the second trimester, according to LiveAction. According to court documents obtained by the College Fix, Thopurathu expressed concerns in her clinical rotation evaluation after watching the abortion. Thopurathu said she was significantly emotionally distressed when she saw the dilation and extraction (D&E) abortion, which is committed through the dismemberment of the unborn child using suction and forceps.
“I wish I was asked prior to this case if I was comfortable with seeing a D&E. I was very overwhelmed by this experience,” Thoruathu wrote in the evaluation, according to LiveAction. “However, I was too afraid to speak up because I didn’t want to cause a (scene). In the future, I believe students should be asked if they are comfortable seeing a D&E rather than being assigned the procedure without patient information.”
Thopurathu’s complaint also argues that the abortion procedure violates her religious beliefs, according to the College Fix.
In December 2022, Thopurathu met with Springfield College President Mary-Beth Cooper to discuss the evaluation comments. Thopurathu took a brief leave of absence in February 2023 because of increased anxiety, and the court documents note that the college reportedly usually allows for a full academic year of leave, but Thopurathu was only given one month.
“She alleges this discrepancy was unfair and contributed to her inability to recover sufficiently before being required to resume clinical work,” the College Fix reported. LiveAction reported that the lawsuit alleges that the administration had encouraged Thopurathu to take the leave of absence because of the perceived anxiety.
The complaint alleges that the college required her to complete a 12th clinical rotation — usually only 11 are needed — in order to graduate, and on the final rotation, she received a score of 77%. Her average rotation grade up until this incident had been 91%, according to the court documents. According to LiveAction, “faculty deemed her rotation [from the Baystate Health system] ‘incomplete’ because of her prior feedback and issued her a failure, despite her original 84.5% grade for the rotation.”
Springfield dismissed Thopurathu from the program in July 2023 “on the grounds that she failed two Clinical Rotations,” including the Baystate Health System rotation, which she allegedly originally received a passing grade for, according to the College Fix.
Thopurathu filed a complaint July 11 in Hampden Superior Court, according to MassLive.
Thopurathu alleges in the complaint “that her dismissal was unjustified and motivated by bias against her religious objections to abortion,” the College Fix reported. “The complaint accuses the college of religious and national origin discrimination, contractual breach, and civil conspiracy.”