An American citizen studying midwifery in Scotland was suspended from a hospital and investigated for expressing pro-life views in a private Facebook group.
Sara Spencer, a 30-year-old native Californian and mother of three, is studying to be a midwife at Edinburgh Napier University.
Last April, just weeks after she had been placed into the neo- and antenatal care clinic at National Health Service (NHS) Fife hospital, Spencer responded to a post in a private Facebook group for midwives-in-training. The post asked: “Do midwives have anything to do with abortions, and can they refuse to take part in carrying them out because of their beliefs?”
According to the Daily Mail:
Under UK law, nurses can refuse to be involved in an abortion if they have a strong moral or religious objection.
Meanwhile, freedom of expression guidance from UK regulator the Nursing and Midwifery Council states nurses are free to ‘protest and manifest their personal beliefs’ on the issue.
After noting that “midwives do perform abortions,” Spencer explained the law’s conscience protections. She also provided a link to the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s website. Then she wrote: “Given that my moral beliefs include 1) a fetus is a child and 2) it is wrong to kill children, there is no circumstance in which I would not object to abortion (killing a child).”
Midwife Crisis
A few days later, Spencer was pulled aside by her NHS line manager. Spencer told the Mail she had no idea what she had done to deserve this treatment.
“When she brought up the Facebook comments, I was stunned,” Spencer recalled. “It was the last thing I expected.”
She added:
The quote that really stuck with me was that she said, “These comments have been brought to my attention. I feel I need to escalate them to the university.” She said, “I trust you don’t need me to tell you what comments I’m referring to. You know what you said.”
NHS Fife referred the matter to the university for a fitness-to-practice investigation. It also suspended Spencer for the duration of the probe, in direct contradiction to the recommendation of the officer handling the case.
“I felt like it brought back memories of being bullied and ostracized in grammar school,” Spencer told the BBC. “Just three months into my training I felt like I was being told you’re not welcome.”
Unsure of what to do, Spencer researched similar cases. She contacted a nurse who was investigated in 2020 for daring to associate with a pro-life student society. That nurse connected her with ADF UK, a Christian legal-defense organization; the group chose to represent her.
In a press release, ADF UK legal counsel Jeremiah Igunnubole said:
Sara’s career has been negatively impacted by a cultural prejudice against people with pro-life opinions — present both at her university, and in her workplace.
It’s clear that, while committed to a number of diversity policies, universities across the country have struggled to uphold true diversity of thought — punishing students who peacefully express their own ideas.
Sore Losers
Ultimately, the university cleared Spencer of all charges, finding “no case to answer.” That decision, however, failed to satisfy the pro-abortion ideologues at both the school and NHS Fife.
According to ADF UK:
Despite [Spencer’s] being cleared of any wrongdoing, Spencer’s professors at Edinburgh Napier University have continued to issue warnings to her about her social media use, referring to Spencer’s comments regarding her pro-life beliefs as “inappropriate.”
NHS Fife, meanwhile, “strongly objected to” the university’s findings but eventually relented, wrote ADF UK. It then placed Spencer at a different-but-equally-woke hospital in Kirkcaldy. That hospital is being sued by a nurse who was suspended after complaining about being forced to share a changing area with a transgender doctor.
Asked for comment on the Spencer case by the Mail, NHS Fife passed the buck to the university. However, it did have the gall to say it “is committed to fostering a safe, inclusive and respectful workplace where all employees are valued and supported.”
The university also refused comment.
Lois McLatchie Miller, Scottish spokesperson for ADF UK, said:
It should be considered entirely natural and expected that a midwife, focused on delivering life into the world, may have concerns about abortion. It’s for this reason that our laws protect freedom of conscience for all medical professionals, who should never be compelled to act in a way they consider harmful.
Miller noted that the Scottish government is currently reviewing the country’s abortion laws, including conscience protections. “Sara’s experience,” she cautioned, “should sound an alarm bell about the need to reaffirm freedom of conscience across all public health boards.”
No Apologies
Although Spencer is pleased to have been allowed to resume her training, she isn’t through with NHS Fife yet. She told the Mail she wants NHS Fife to acknowledge its error and commit to preventing such future mistakes:
I suspect an apology would be insincere, so I wouldn’t really want one.
But I would love to see an acknowledgment that they were wrong to insist that I be investigated, wrong to bar me from placement during the investigation, wrong to react against my “no case to answer” outcome.
I would like to know what corrective measures they’re prepared to implement.
But in a country where praying in one’s own home could be considered a crime if one lives too close to an abortion facility, such responses are unlikely.
