August 31, 2011
Two Roman Catholic nurses have secured the right not to work in an abortion clinic, citing in part the Equality Act 2010 as protecting their “philosophical belief” to not carry out abortions.
The nurses, who did not wish to be named during the course of the process, initially gained employment working in another part of a London hospital. They were later moved to the abortion clinic for one day a week, where they were requested as part of their job to administer the drugs Mifepristone and Misoprostol to women in order to induce miscarriage; a process known as “early medical abortion.”
The pair objected to carrying out this work but were told by their employers that it was a compulsory part of their employment. The Thomas More Legal Centre, which specialises in religious discrimination cases, then took up their argument.
Director at Thomas More, Neil Addison, wrote to the hospital arguing that the pair should be exempt from administering abortions both under the Abortion Act 1967 and the Equality Act 2010. The former Act states that "No person shall be under any duty, whether by contract or by any statutory or other legal requirement, to participate in any treatment authorised by this act to which he has a conscientious objection” whilst the second allows for a “philosophical belief” held by an employee to be protected where their work could conflict with such a belief.
Mr Addison believes that this interpretation of the Equality Act has not been cited before. He added: “Since the courts have accepted that the philosophical belief in global warming is protected under equality legislation, there seems no reason why belief that human life begins at conception should not be equally protected.”
