Kentucky medical student fired, harassed by pro-life opinions, lawsuit allegations

A Kentucky student at the University of Louisville School of Medicine (ULSOM) who was due to graduate in May was expelled for his views on abortion, according to a lawsuit filed last month.

The lawsuit, filed in District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, alleges that Austin Clark, who was a fourth-year medical student at the time of his dismissal on July 15, 2020, began receiving problems from faculty over his post-professional vision. The Life Group, Medical Students for Life hosted anti-abortion speaker Alex MacFarland in 2018.

The medical school administration went to great lengths to prevent this event from happening, the lawsuit alleges, and did so largely by charging “impossibly high security fees.”

The school’s teachers have since retaliated against him for his views, including an OB/GYN instructor who allegedly was “stupid” and questioned if his “brain was working,” the lawsuit alleges.

The former student also claims that he obtained a failing grade in the internal medicine course even though he passed it “objectively” based on the numerical grade he obtained. Clark also alleged in his lawsuit that he was subjected to physical harassment and intimidation.

Clark’s complaint against ULSOM President Neeli Bendapudi and 13 other people connected to the medical school.

He says the defendants violated his First Amendment rights by subjecting him to further scrutiny under standards of “professionalism,” awarding failing grades in an arbitrary and capricious manner, and removing him from ULSOM for expressing his favorable views. – Life and religious speech through McFarland. On campus.

The lawsuit states, “The defendants are punishing Clark for expressing his views on appropriate treatment for medical students, abortion and the sanctity of life, the application of Christianity and his personal philosophy and beliefs to the practice of medicine.”

Clarke was told that he was officially expelled from medical school via Facetime on July 15 last year.

“They say I wasn’t a professional, but all I did was be a pro-life student, and stand up to bullies,” the ULSOM graduate said in a statement via the Students for Life in America website.

So we’re now firing medical students for telling the truth about what happens during an abortion medically? https://t.co/CA7kcs02bQ pic.twitter.com/2tInoaQUAu

Students for Life America (StudentsforLife) August 5, 2021

The University of Louisville (UofL) says on its website that it respects the freedom of expression of its students.

“UofL supports creative, thoughtful, and respectful discourse where deeply conflicting viewpoints are discussed and discussed comprehensively,” the site states.

“UofL is dedicated to providing all members of the UofL community with the protections of the freedoms of speech, expression, assembly, religion, and the press available under the constitutions of the United States and Kentucky and all applicable federal and state laws, in accordance with the purpose and function of the University except to the extent that restrictions on those freedoms are necessary for the operation of UofL.”

ULSOM did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.