Margaret Forrester is the NHS employee in the London borough of Camden who got into serious trouble with her employer because she discussed her views on abortion with a colleague. I wrote about her here.During an informal conversation about abortion - not with a client, but with a colleague - she gave the colleague a booklet giving examples of post-abortion syndrome suffered by five women from Taunton, Somerset. She did so, she said, because she was concerned that women contemplating abortion were not given enough information about the risks involved.
She was later sent home on special leave with full pay, ordered not to see any patients and to stay away from any NHS site while an investigation was carried out, and called before an internal disciplinary committee accused of "distributing materials some people may find offensive."
The decision of the disciplinary committee has now been announced. Miss Forrester was apparently not censured, and has been offered a better job.
Just a question: Would she have escaped censure and would she have been offered a better job if her case had not had nationwide publicity?
Claire Murdoch, chief executive of Central and North-west London NHS Foundation Trust - Miss Forrester's employer - said "The booklet Miss Forrester distributed offers a seriously unbalanced and one-sided view of abortion. . . The booklet implies that abortion can lead to alcohol and drug abuse, suicidal thoughts and increased risk of cancer."
There is something I would like to point out to Ms Murdoch.
Abortion can lead to drug and alcohol abuse and suicidal thoughts and can - and sometimes does - lead to cancer.
If anyone needs proof of that, there is ample evidence available.
