Midwives set to quit NHS af ter losing abortion f ight
TWO Catholic midwives are considering leaving the NHS after losing a court battle over their refusal to take part in abortions. Mary Doogan and Connie Wood f ought f or f i ve years on religious grounds against having to supervise nurses who help carry out terminations.
But the UK’s highest court yesterday ruled medical staff have no right to conscientiously object unless they are directly involved in an abortion. Justice Lady Hale, at the Supreme Court in London, said the two Glasgow midwives, who booked in and admitted women f or abortions, had no more involvement in their babies being terminated than the hospital cleaners or canteen staff.
The landmark judgment, which overturns a previous Court of Session ruling, means medical staff can only object to a ‘hands-on’ role in abortions.
It was welcomed last night by the Royal College of Midwives, which said the two women’s case could have ‘seriously jeopardised’ hospital care for women across Britain.
But the Christian charity CARE said it set a ‘dangerous precedent’ that could force people to act against their conscience at work.
Miss Doogan, 60, from Garrowhill, Glasgow, and Mrs Wood, 54, from Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, were both labour ward co-ordinators at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital.
In a statement they said: ‘ We are both saddened and extremely disappointed with today’s verdict from the Supreme Court and can only imagine the subsequent detrimental consequences that will result from today’s decision.’
The case exposes a significant grey area in the Abortion Act 1967 which allows people not to ‘participate’ in terminations for reasons of conscience.
In almost 40 years the act’s wording has rarely been tested in court, except in 1989 when Barbara Janaway, a health centre secretary, objected to typing a letter from a GP referring a patient considering an abortion to a consultant. Mrs Janaway lost her case.