December 22 | 
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Tom Clarke MP to challenge Parliament on conscientious objection
Veteran Coatbridge and Chryston MP plans action in wake of Supreme Court Ruling against Catholic midwives
Veteran Coatbridge and Chryston MP Tom Clarke intends to ‘fight as hard as he can’ for better legal protections for freedom of conscience in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling against the two Glasgow Catholic midwives.
The Supreme Court ruled on December 17 that Mary Doogan and Connie Wood cannot conscientiously object to supervising abortions performed on labour wards.
Labour MP Mr Clarke (above) told the SCO today that when Parliament returns in the new year he will be ‘calling on the coalition government to clarify the interpretation of peoples legal and human rights.’
Mr Clarke said he had given personal guarantees to the midwives he would pursue protections for freedom of conscience through parliament, even if it takes a private member’s bill to do so.
“I cannot accept that even given recent attempts to introduce secularism where it was never meant to be that we are seeking to impose upon individuals an instruction to carry out actions that are in conflict terrible with their conscience and their long held convictions,” he said. “This verdict could not be more serious.”
Read the full story in the Christmas edition of the SCO along with an exclusive interview with Mary Doogan, one of the midwives in question. Available in parishes from Christmas Eve.
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