Janaway v Salford Health Authority (1989) AC 537
Conscientious Objection
Conscientious objection defence under Section 4 (1) of the Abortion Act 1967 applied only to persons who are actually involved in the abortion operation.
In this case, a secretary was requested to type a letter which referred a patient to a consultant in regards termination of the client’s pregnancy. She refused to carry out the doctor’s instruction claiming conscientious objection under section 4 (1) Abortion Act 1961. This section provided that ‘no person shall be under any duty, whether by contract or by any statutory or other legal requirement, to participate in any treatment authorised by this Act to which he has a conscientious objection.’
The court held that natural meaning of ‘participate in’ should be given to it. It means taking part in the treatment for the purpose of termination the abortion.
Updated 19 March 2026
This article accurately summarises the decision in Janaway v Salford Area Health Authority [1989] AC 537, in which the House of Lords held that the conscientious objection provision in section 4(1) of the Abortion Act 1967 does not extend to ancillary administrative tasks such as typing a referral letter. The legal principle described remains good law.
Two points of inaccuracy are worth noting for readers. First, the article refers to the “Abortion Act 1961”, which does not exist; the correct statute is the Abortion Act 1967. Second, the defendant is correctly named Salford Area Health Authority in the law report, not “Salford Health Authority” as stated in the article title.
Readers should be aware that the scope of conscientious objection under section 4(1) was further considered by the Supreme Court in Greater Glasgow Health Board v Doogan [2014] UKSC 68, where it was held that the right to conscientious objection does not extend to supervising or delegating tasks to others involved in the process. That decision reinforces and develops the narrow interpretation applied in Janaway and should be read alongside it.
The Abortion Act 1967, as amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, remains in force. No subsequent statutory changes have altered the effect of section 4(1) as interpreted in these cases.
