Scottish school settles case with Catholic teacher fired after abortion discussion

LIVERPOOL, England (OSV News) — An American history teacher fired by a school in Scotland for speaking about abortion has reached an out-of-court settlement with her former employer.

Sarah Morse, a 66-year-old Catholic, who grew up in Atlanta, was dismissed by Arbroath High School on Nov. 19, 2025, after she answered questions in class from 14- and 15-year-old students about her position on abortion, which she opposes.

She was sacked the same day by the deputy head teacher.

She sued Angus Council, which runs the school, for unfair dismissal, demanding an apology and full reimbursement for loss of three weeks of earnings and $13,500 (10,000 pounds) in compensation for the suffering she said she “endured for being cancelled because of my religious beliefs including those relating to abortion.”

An employment tribunal was due to be held on Aug. 24 but earlier in the month the council approached Morse with the offer of a financial settlement, which she had accepted.

Morse will not speak publicly about the settlement or disclose the amount she has received.

Michael Robinson, executive director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, or SPUC, told OSV News his organization believed that the case needed to be brought to public attention.

“Expressing a view on abortion in a reasonable manner is not something that should allow people of faith to be victimized,” Robinson said in an Aug. 27 message sent by WhatsApp.

“The widespread reaction showed that our view resonated with those who believe in the need for free speech in a democratic country,” he said.

“SPUC welcomes the fact that the case has been settled, stresses the need for people to stand up for themselves as Sarah did and stands ready to help anyone who might find themselves in a similar situation,” Robinson added.

Prior to the hearing scheduled before the settlement was reached, she described her ordeal in vivid detail in a YouTube interview with Peter Kearney of SPUC, the pro-life group that funded her legal battle.

In a deposition written on the day of her dismissal, she also described how she was hired for three weeks to stand in for a teacher who had left her with plans for a lesson about Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany in the 1930s.

“As soon as I opened my mouth, the students realized I was American,” she said, adding that they began to pepper her with all sorts of questions about U.S. culture and politics.

“Some girls started to ask me about more social issues,” she said. “I figured it was because these issues are known to be contentious in America so they were interested because of the context of my presence.

“A girl asked me what I thought about abortion. I thought for a moment and decided that … they were old enough to know what abortion was, especially as they had raised the topic and that as young people they have a stake in the issue,” she said, adding she told students: “I am a faithful Roman Catholic and I am against it.”

“I might have used the words, ‘I don’t agree with it’ or ‘I don’t support it.’ The boys clapped loudly and the girls groaned,” she recalled.

Morse then recalled young people asking about abortion of a child conceived in rape, bringing up in the argument Charlie Kirk, who “said he wouldn’t let his daughter get an abortion if she was raped,” young people argued.

“I said I agreed,” Morse said and when the students asked: “Why?” — she added it was because she didn’t believe “it’s right to punish a child for bad things a parent did.”

When there was disagreement from the girls, the teacher recalled saying: “It’s fine to disagree. It’s a hard issue.”

The conversation moved on to American politics and abortion was not mentioned again, Morse said.

But at the end of the day she was summoned by the school’s business manager to be informed that she was “being let go” with immediate effect because “you talked to the kids about your religion and abortion” and the head teacher “isn’t having it.”

“I was shocked and very unhappy as I had enjoyed my work at the school,” said Morse. “I thanked her for the time I had and walked out of her office calmly and quietly.”

But Morse said she “couldn’t quite wrap my head around what had just happened or why it had happened. I had never even met the head (of the school) and had not been asked by anyone for my account of what had happened. I had been summarily dismissed without a clear reason as far as I was concerned.”

Feeling “upset and confused” about being let go,” the teacher said she had “gone over what happened again and again, and still do not understand what I did wrong. I did not tell them what to think on any issue.”

She said that as a parent, she would “welcome the opportunity for my children to learn different opinions on things that impact them.”

In her lawsuit, Morse cited violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which the U.K. is a signatory.

She claimed that she had been denied freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 9), freedom of expression (Article 10) and she was not protected from discrimination (Article 14).

In an Aug. 28 statement sent by email to OSV News, Angus Council said: “This matter has concluded, and Angus Council will be making no further comment.”

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