Student Claims He Was Expelled from University of Louisville Medical School over Pro-Life Views, Files Lawsuit
-
Updated
Aug 12, 2021
![]()
A former medical student at the University of Louisville School of Medicine has filed a lawsuit against officials at the college, claiming he was discriminated against because of his pro-life activism.
Austin Clark filed an amended complaint last week in the U.S. District Court against the college’s president, Neeli Bendapudi, and 13 other college officials.
University officials have said they cannot comment on pending litigation.
Clark was expelled in July 2020 after he led a 2018 pro-life event. At the time, Clark was the head of the ULSOM’s Medical Students for Life group.
The 2018 pro-life event featured Alex McFarland, a Christian apologist and author, who spoke about the origins of life in the womb.
The complaint also says that from 2018 until his expulsion, Clark was frequently harassed and verbally assaulted by professors. He said he was also given a failing grade in an internal medicine class, although he claims he earned a passing grade.
“They are saying that I was being unprofessional, but all I’ve done is to be a vocal pro-life student, standing up to bullies,” Clark said in a statement.
According to the lawsuit, Clark is asking to be reinstated to the school, and he is also accusing the school of violating the First and 14th Amendments.
“Viewpoint discrimination is running rampant in workplaces, online and on college campuses,” Student of Life of America President Kristan Hawkins said. “Students’ futures should not be threatened simply because their beliefs don’t line up perfectly with their professors’, but once again, a student must head to court to fight for basic rights.”
According to The Christian Post, the University of Louisville has professors at the university who are also physicians at the state’s only abortion clinic, EMW Women’s Surgical Center.
In 2020, the conservative group the Family Foundation and 35 state lawmakers asked for an investigation into whether the university was violating state law on taxpayer funding of abortions by effectively controlling the state’s only abortion clinic.
Photo courtesy: Jesse Orrico/Unsplash
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
