UK Wedding News
17/12/2014
In its ruling, the UK's highest court told the two women that they did not have the right to avoid supervising other nurses involved in abortion procedures.
The two midwives, from Glasgow, were not asked to carry out an abortion or provide care for any woman undergoing a termination, but they argued that their right to conscientious objection was breached when they were asked to answer telephone calls to book women in for care, as well as to delegate or supervise staff providing that care to women.
The women were primarily ending a pregnancy after a diagnosis of foetal anomaly.
Last year, Scotland's Inner House of the Court of Session ruled that the midwives should have legal protection from such tasks. However, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) intervened. They claimed that the ruling created a "widely expanded interpretation of conscientious objection" that could see women's care in hospitals jeopardised.
Under the 1967 Abortion Act there is a clause that allowed for healthcare professionals to refuse to participate in abortion care – provided it is not in an emergency situation.
In its decision to uphold the appeal against last year's ruling, the Supreme Court said parliament was likely to have envisaged the right to object as "actually taking part, that is actually performing that tasks involved in the course of treatment."
Lady Hale, Deputy President of the Supreme Court, said: "Parliament will not have had in mind the hospital managers who decide to offer an abortion service, the administrators who decide how best that service can be organised within the hospital, the caterers who provide the patients with food and the cleaners who provide them with a safe and hygienic environment.
"Yet all may be said in some way to be facilitating the carrying out of the treatment involved. The managerial and supervisory tasks carried out by the labour ward co-ordinators are closer to these roles than they are to the role of providing the treatment which brings about the termination of the pregnancy. 'Participate' in my view means taking part in a 'hands-on' capacity."
Welcoming the ruling, Gillian Smith, RCM Director for Scotland, said: "This ruling is sensible and both women and midwives will welcome it. The ruling gives extensive definition to complex clinical and other situations, in regard to whether conscientious objection applies or not.
"Midwives and other clinicians will benefit from this ruling's clarity and women will be able to continue to exercise their choice over their reproductive rights."
Ann Furedi, Chief Executive of BPAS, added: "BPAS supports the right to refuse to work in abortion care, not least because women deserve better than being treated by those who object to their choice. But the law as it stands already provides healthcare workers with these protections.
"Extending this protection to tasks not directly related to the abortion would be to the detriment of women needing to end a pregnancy and the healthcare staff committed to providing that care.
"There are enough barriers in the way of women who need an abortion without further obstacles being thrown in their way."
(JP/MH)
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Midwife Abortion Ruling Welcomed
A ruling by the Supreme Court, against two midwives who refused to supervise and support colleagues who provided abortion care to patients, has been welcomed by leading organisations.In its ruling, the UK's highest court told the two women that they did not have the right to avoid supervising other nurses involved in abortion procedures.
The two midwives, from Glasgow, were not asked to carry out an abortion or provide care for any woman undergoing a termination, but they argued that their right to conscientious objection was breached when they were asked to answer telephone calls to book women in for care, as well as to delegate or supervise staff providing that care to women.
The women were primarily ending a pregnancy after a diagnosis of foetal anomaly.
Last year, Scotland's Inner House of the Court of Session ruled that the midwives should have legal protection from such tasks. However, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) intervened. They claimed that the ruling created a "widely expanded interpretation of conscientious objection" that could see women's care in hospitals jeopardised.
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Under the 1967 Abortion Act there is a clause that allowed for healthcare professionals to refuse to participate in abortion care – provided it is not in an emergency situation.
In its decision to uphold the appeal against last year's ruling, the Supreme Court said parliament was likely to have envisaged the right to object as "actually taking part, that is actually performing that tasks involved in the course of treatment."
Lady Hale, Deputy President of the Supreme Court, said: "Parliament will not have had in mind the hospital managers who decide to offer an abortion service, the administrators who decide how best that service can be organised within the hospital, the caterers who provide the patients with food and the cleaners who provide them with a safe and hygienic environment.
"Yet all may be said in some way to be facilitating the carrying out of the treatment involved. The managerial and supervisory tasks carried out by the labour ward co-ordinators are closer to these roles than they are to the role of providing the treatment which brings about the termination of the pregnancy. 'Participate' in my view means taking part in a 'hands-on' capacity."
Welcoming the ruling, Gillian Smith, RCM Director for Scotland, said: "This ruling is sensible and both women and midwives will welcome it. The ruling gives extensive definition to complex clinical and other situations, in regard to whether conscientious objection applies or not.
"Midwives and other clinicians will benefit from this ruling's clarity and women will be able to continue to exercise their choice over their reproductive rights."
Ann Furedi, Chief Executive of BPAS, added: "BPAS supports the right to refuse to work in abortion care, not least because women deserve better than being treated by those who object to their choice. But the law as it stands already provides healthcare workers with these protections.
"Extending this protection to tasks not directly related to the abortion would be to the detriment of women needing to end a pregnancy and the healthcare staff committed to providing that care.
"There are enough barriers in the way of women who need an abortion without further obstacles being thrown in their way."
(JP/MH)
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