Letter: Right of an appeal

IT IS welcome news (your report, 21 April) that an appeal is to be lodged against the judgment by Lady Smith that two Catholic midwives were not entitled to refuse to delegate, supervise or support staff taking part in abortions.

In what other areas of life is it the case that supervisory staff can be held not to be legally responsible and accountable for the compliant actions of those they oversee?

Lady Smith may well have been correct in her interpretation of the 1967 Abortion Act, but, if it is the case that this Act allows a right of conscientious objection only for those directly carrying out abortions, then the Act must be amended.

To do otherwise is to send out the clear legal signal that in Britain it is no longer possible for Catholics – as well as Muslims and others of faith and no faith – to choose midwifery as a career.

LAWRENCE MARSHALL

King’s Road

Portobello, Edinburgh