Scottish Catholic Observer

Labour MP Tom Clarke has written to the coalition government asking them to take steps to secure freedom of conscience in the NHS in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that two Glasgow midwives had to supervise abortions.

In December the UK’s highest court said Mary Doogan and Connie Wood cannot conscientiously object to supervising abortions performed on labour wards.

Mr Clarke (above), MP for Coatbridge and Chryston told the SCO he was ‘astonished’ by the ruling, which he believes is ‘full of legal ambiguities.’

His question to Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Health, asks if he will ‘take steps to protect individual rights of conscience for administrative personnel in the NHS and ensure that the decisions of those who do not wish to be involved in any aspect of abortion procedures are respected; and if he will bring forward legislative proposals to clarify the legal rights of healthcare workers across the UK in relation to this issue.’

Mr Clarke said he was taking the highest possible legal advice on this issue and would be ‘pursing the issues based on the principal that no one should be made to act against their conscience.’

He has previously told the SCO that if the UK government declines to introduce new protections for conscience he will bring forward a private members bill on the subject.

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