The UK’s highest court has overturned a decision affecting the case of two Roman Catholic midwives who had previously won the right to avoid supervising staff involved in abortions.
Last April, judges at Edinburgh’s Court of Session ruled that Mary Doogan and Connie Wood’s conscientious objection to abortions meant that they had the right to refuse to delegate, supervise or support staff involved in abortions.
But the UK Supreme Court has now overturned this ruling after an appeal by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Hands-on only
The landmark judgment in December by the five Supreme Court justices rejected the view that the right of conscience extended to the whole process of abortion. It ruled instead that conscientious objection only applied where an individual was ‘taking part in a hands-on capacity’.
The Supreme Court case focused on the scope of the right that the midwives have to object on the grounds of conscience under the Abortion Act 1967 and particularly the meaning of the words ‘to participate in any treatment authorised by this Act to which he has a conscientious objection’.
Rethink
Deliberations will now continue in the ongoing Employment Tribunal case brought by the midwives, which Supreme Court judge Lady Hale believes will be much better suited to resolve the question of practicable adjustments. Lady Hale is the judge who called for a rethink on religious rights after ruling against the Bulls bed and breakfast case in 2014 and then stating that, on reflection, her decision may have been wrong.
