The worker in question, Margaret Forrester, said
she would do the same thing again even if it means losing her job.

The leaflet, entitled Forsaken, contains
information about the potential physical and psychological consequences of
abortion.

Ms Forrester was told at a disciplinary hearing
that if she didn’t undertake to refrain from handing out the leaflet in the
future she could be fired.

The disciplinary proceedings were launched after
she gave a booklet to family planning staff
at the health centre in Westminster where she works because she felt that the
NHS was not offering patients enough information about the dangers of
abortion.

Ms Forrester, 39, from Battersea, south London,
said her managers told her she should not “give materials like this to
colleagues at work”.

“They asked me the question about whether I would
do it again. I said I had not done anything unprofessional or unethical, so yes
I would.”

She now faces another hearing on 12 January next
year, when, she has been warned, she could be sacked from her job as a
psychological wellbeing practitioner for Central North West London Mental Health
Trust.

“The fact that you cannot have an informal
discussion with a colleague in the interests of patient care seems
unbelievable,” she said. “I think it is likely that I will be
fired.”

Ms Forrester became concerned that the NHS was
failing to provide women with adequate information about the possible mental
health risks of abortion.

The leaflet tells the stories of five women who
have experienced so-called “post abortion syndrome”, which can involve symptoms
including depression, and physical complications such as infection and fertility
problems.

Her case is being backed by the Christian Legal
Centre, which said society was attempting to “bury the truth about
abortion”.

NHS advice states that “repeated abortions” can
cause fertility problems but that terminating a pregnancy does not generally
lead to long-term emotional or psychological problems.

Research from New Zealand has shown that women who
have a abortions are 30 per cent more likely to experience mental health
problems, even after controlling for selection effects.

Central North West London Mental Health Trust
declined to comment.