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The ongoing harassment of pro-lifers around the British Isles for having the “wrong beliefs” is intended to intimidate and silence anyone who doesn’t share the government’s pro-abortion orthodoxy.
Sara Spencer, 30, is seeking recognition of her rights to conscientious objection and freedom of speech following her unpleasant experience with National Health Service (NHS) Fife, which suspended her for a comment she made on Facebook.
Spencer, an American citizen residing in Scotland, was only a few months into her training at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland when her dream turned into a nightmare.
Shortly after beginning her placement at a clinic run by NHS Fife, one of 14 territorial boards in Scotland, Spencer was called in for a meeting with her line manager to be reprimanded.
Spencer told the Daily Mail, “At first I thought maybe I had just said something silly or made some kind of dumb mistake. My mind was racing, thinking what have I done?”
Her faux pas? A comment she made in a private social media group for midwifery students.
One user wrote, “Do midwives have anything to do with abortions, and can they refuse to take part in carrying them out because of their beliefs?”
Spencer replied that midwives have the legal right to conscientious objection. She also wrote, “Given that my moral beliefs include a foetus is a child and it it [sic] wrong to kill children, there is no circumstance in which I would not object to abortion.”
She said to BBC Scotland News, “I was really happy to engage and present my views and kind of try to explain them. I knew I was engaging in a very emotive topic but I don’t think I was quite prepared to be pulled aside at work by my line manager a week later.”
Her supervisor sent the case to Edinburgh Napier, which started a “Fitness to Practice” inquiry.
The investigation was “for a) bringing the profession or the University into disrepute b) conducting herself in a manner ‘detrimental to the safety, dignity, and wellbeing and personal and/or professional reputation of others’ c) misusing social media and d) conducting herself in a manner falling below the expectations of the student’s relevant Professional Code.”
Though the Fitness to Practice officer handling her case recommended she not be reprimanded, NHS Fife suspended Spencer while the investigation was underway.
Spencer, a mother of three, said, “I remember coming home and just sitting in the bathtub crying, thinking, oh gosh, it feels pitiful because, I’m a mum, I’m an adult. I have children to take care of.”
Spencer was put in touch with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, which agreed to represent her.
The university found that there was no case to answer, but NHS Fife opposed her reinstatement. It finally consented, and Spencer began a new placement at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy where she says she was welcomed by staff.
Now on maternity leave, Spencer hopes to restart her coursework next year.
Presently, however, Spencer seeks recognition of the rights of medical professionals.
“I suspect an apology would be insincere, so I wouldn’t really want one. But I would love to see an acknowledgement 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,” she argues.
“I would like to know what corrective measures they’re prepared to implement.”
Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF International, stated that the firm is supporting her quest to have her rights acknowledged, explaining,
“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. Sara’s story points to a need for legislation which reaffirms freedom of speech in these learning environments, if the reputational standards of Scottish universities are to remain intact.”
At what point are the Brits going to admit that they have a censorship problem?
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted during a recent meeting with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, “We have had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom and it will last for a very, very long time.”
Sure, the Brits have free speech — except if someone has the wrong opinion on certain topics, like abortion or LGBTQ issues or migrant crime.
Pro-lifers are clearly at the top of the list of those not allowed to share their beliefs throughout the U.K. The Standing for Freedom Center has reported frequently on the censorship zones around abortion clinics in England that prohibit “disapproval” of abortion and the many pro-lifers who have been arrested and prosecuted simply for “praying in their minds” on an otherwise public sidewalk.
Scotland also has a censorship zone law called The Abortion Services Act 2024. The law is truly authoritarian in its scope.
Following the law’s implementation, residents of Edinburgh received letters instructing them that actions taken within 200 meters of an abortion facility could lead to prosecution, even if the person was inside their own home.
“Activities in a private place (such as a house) within the area between the protected premises and the boundary of a zone could be an offense if they can be seen or heard within the zone and are done intentionally or recklessly,” the letter read.
Recently, 74-year-old Rose Docherty became the first person arrested under the new law. Her crime? Holding a sign that read “here to talk, only if you want” near a hospital that provides abortion, among other services. Scottish Green Party member Gilliam Mackay called the protest “utterly shameful” and said she was thankful “to Police Scotland for acting so quickly.”
In Ireland, a pastor is about to go on trial for preaching a sermon to a small group of congregants near an abortion clinic.
And even today, a pro-lifer is being tried in an English court for passively holding a sign offering to talk near an abortion clinic.
Governments of every nation in the British Isles eagerly enforce restrictions on pro-life speech.
So it really isn’t surprising that Spencer was suspended for posting her views on midwives’ legal rights; it’s actually more surprising that she was reinstated.
Governments across the Atlantic have already chosen the winner and the loser of the abortion issue, decreeing that it is orthodox to promote abortion and heretical to oppose it.
As difficult as it’s been, Spencer should be proud of herself for standing up, even at the potential cost to her career. After all, if a midwife isn’t allowed have an opinion about the humanity of a baby in utero, who can?
More people need to follow her lead, bravely speak their beliefs, and work to restore “real” free speech and religious liberty in the British Isles.
Photos: Left, Scottish flag, and right, midwife student Sara Spencer Photo Credits: Shutterstock/Courtesy of ADF International
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