NHS sued over position on abortion

A Christian woman suspended from the NHS for voicing her opposition to abortion has filed a lawsuit claiming her rights to free speech and religion were violated.

Margaret Forrester, who was working as a psychological wellbeing practitioner for the NHS, was suspended in November 2010 after she privately told colleagues she was concerned thatwomen receiving abortions were not being adequately educated about the negative effects of the procedure.

Forrester then gave a pro-life charity-sponsored booklet entitled "Forsaken" to one of her colleagues, which featured stories of women who had dealt with post-abortion syndrome, in the hopes of better educating women facing unplanned pregnancies. It was shortly after that encounter that the mental health practitioner was suspended for "gross professional misconduct".

Forrester, 40, has gone to the High Court to challenge her suspension. She is being represented by the Thomas More Legal Centre, a conservative religious freedom charity, and is arguing that the handling of her religious expression by the Central and North West London NHS Trust was a human rights violation.

During disciplinary proceedings, Forrester, a Roman Catholic, was told that the "Forsaken" abortion-awareness pamphlet was "religious in tone" and therefore may be offensive to some nonreligious colleagues, The Telegraph reported.

"If employees of the NHS cannot even discuss the subject of abortion with their colleagues then this means that the NHS has become a dangerously totalitarian organization with no regard for freedom or diversity," a representative for the Thomas More Legal Society told the newspaper.

Forrester accepted the offer of a different role in a another location working for the NHS trust but she later left this position due to stress. Her lawyers are now arguing that the new position given to her by the NHS trust involved "demeaning tasks", according to court papers cited by The Telegraph.

A spokesperson for the NHS told the Telegraph: "The Trust thoroughly disputes these allegations and will continue to defend its position vigorously. We are confident that we will be able to successfully defend these claims."