A Christian teacher with 28 years of experience has filed a discrimination claim against a school in northeast England after being dismissed following a pro-life response to a student’s question about abortion.
Anita Meston, 63, is suing Biddick Academy, a state-funded secondary school in Washington, Sunderland, according to ADF International, which is supporting her case.
A preliminary hearing is set for Friday before the Employment Tribunal.
Meston began working at Biddick in October 2024 and had served full time as a substitute teacher for six months before the school renewed her contract one week before her dismissal.
The dispute began in March 2025 during a Year 8 history class. A student asked Meston whether she was “pro-abortion,” and she answered that she was “pro-life.”
When students asked her to explain, Meston said her Christian faith shaped her view and that she knew women who regretted having abortions. After one student said she knew women who did not regret the decision, Meston replied, “fair enough.”
The following day, the head teacher called Meston in to discuss a complaint about the lesson. Meston said she was told to keep personal views out of the classroom and was informed that her contract would end. Biddick Academy dismissed her for “sharing personal opinions on political issues with pupils.”
Meston maintains that she expressed her views only after students asked her directly and that she then returned the class to the lesson.
“I am profoundly shocked by Biddick Academy’s decision to dismiss me for my faith-based pro-life beliefs and other mainstream personal and political views,” Meston said.
She said she answered the students honestly and described the dismissal as censorship, adding that she brought the case so other teachers would not face similar treatment over pro-life beliefs.
Jeremiah Igunnubole, a barrister and legal counsel for ADF in London, said employment protections extend to workers who hold protected beliefs.
“It is unacceptable that expressing pro-life and other views in response to a question can result in a person being terminated,” he said.
Igunnubole said the case seeks to establish that employers cannot dismiss staff because they object to their Christian beliefs.
Britain’s Equality Act prohibits discrimination based on protected characteristics, including religion or belief.
