Scots school settles with teacher fired over pro-life views

A Roman Catholic supply teacher who was sacked for telling students she was against abortion has received a payout from the school involved.

Sarah Morse sued Arbroath High School for unfair dismissal, after it terminated her temporary contract following a brief class discussion on “religion and abortion”.

But prior to last month’s scheduled employment tribunal, at which Morse was seeking compensation for loss of pay and damages “for being cancelled”, the school resolved the dispute in an undisclosed financial settlement.

Class discussion

Last year, Morse — who grew up in America — was quizzed about her views on a number of ‘hot button’ topics from a US perspective by a group of third-year pupils.

In an interview with the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), who supported the teacher’s legal challenge, Morse recalled: “I hear from one corner of the room, ‘Well, what do you think about abortion?’.”

“I thought for a second and I said, ‘Well, as a faithful Roman Catholic, I don’t support it. I don’t agree with it.’”

When pressed on whether she was also against abortion in the case of rape, she responded that “actually, in the case of rape as well, because I don’t think it’s right to punish, you know, an innocent child for the bad things their parents did”.

‘Victimised’

Morse continued: “Towards the end of the day, the last class, I got an email from the finance minister of the school saying, ‘Can you please, you know, stop by? I have a few things I need to talk to you about.”

When she attended the meeting, the manager fired Morse on the spot. The explanation given to Morse for her dismissal was the headteacher’s disapproval of how she shared her views on abortion during class.

Reflecting on the event, Morse told The Times: “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.”

Welcoming the settlement, SPUC’s Michael Robinson told OSV News: “Expressing a view on abortion in a reasonable manner is not something that should allow people of faith to be victimised.”