Pro-life Catholic teacher fired after classroom discussion on abortion

A Catholic teacher in the United Kingdom (UK) is suing after she said she was fired for telling students she is pro-life when they asked her opinion about abortion.

Key Takeaways:

• Sarah Morse is from the United States, and says she is a devout Roman Catholic.

• During a discussion in her history class, Morse said her high school students asked her opinion about various political issues in the United States.

• When asked about abortion, she said she opposes it as a Catholic, but that it was fine for the students to disagree.

• Morse said she was fired within hours.

The Details:

The Telegraph reported that Morse, who is originally from the United States (US), is a teacher in Scotland, which is part of the UK. She had been asked to cover a history class at Arbroath High School when she was asked for her opinion on things like Donald Trump and abortion during a discussion on life in the US.

On abortion, Morse responded, “I am a faithful Roman Catholic and I am against it.”

The students then further asked her about abortion if a woman had been raped, to which Morse replied that the preborn child should “not be punished but understood that people would disagree with her."

The same day, she was called to the office, where she was fired.

“When I was summoned to the office, I thought it was to go through paperwork and school procedures, such as fire drills after accepting an extension to my contract," she said. "Instead, I was summarily dismissed. I was not offered any sort of right of reply, asked for my account of what happened or how my legally protected beliefs were raised in the context of a history class and the head teacher [Karen Thomson] wouldn’t even see me.”

Zoom In:

Morse is now suing the Angus Council for discrimination, saying the school infringed upon her free speech.

 “At no time did I attempt to persuade any student to adopt my position. I taught them that it is possible to have hard conversations with respect and that disagreement is a natural part of a free society," she said. “To be ‘cancelled’ and lose my livelihood because of my religious identity is a terrifying precedent for the teaching profession in Scotland. I will not teach anywhere in this country ever again. It’s been an absolute nightmare.”

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) is supporting her campaign. Michael Robinson, executive director of SPUC, said:

Government guidelines on political impartiality in the classroom do not prohibit the mention of a teacher’s legally protected beliefs, provided there is no attempt to persuade.

Sarah, a teacher with considerable experience acted as a facilitator of open, respectful dialogue – for which she has been punished with the loss of her career, pay and damage to her reputation. Chillingly, there was even the veiled threat to add this information to Sarah’s record. The implication of this comment [is], if you go without a fuss, then we won’t record that you are pro-life, which will impact your employment opportunities.

The school did not follow any due process. There was no attempt to ascertain from Sarah what had happened, and the headteacher was not present and would not even see her. This latest incident of trying to silence someone with traditional or religious views is utterly disgraceful and should worry us all. Sarah did nothing wrong, she simply answered questions from a group of young people about her legally protected beliefs.

As she said, it was normal along with questions about more [of] the trivial aspects of living in the US. Our legal team are now preparing legal action against the school and the local authority for discrimination and Sarah is looking forward to her day in court.

The Bottom Line:

Pro-life speech has been increasingly under attack in the UK, with pro-life activists arrested just for standing silently near abortion facilities. Morse may be the latest example of a larger problem within this pro-abortion nation.