#UK #England #Wales – Most Catholic schools in England and Wales are promoting information on how pupils could obtain confidential access to abortion and contraception, according to a claim published in early October 2026 by John Smeaton, a longtime pro-life campaigner. Smeaton stated that the schools were doing so in line with the policy of the Catholic Education Service (CES), the education agency of the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales.
In an article titled “Check the abortion policy of your child’s Catholic school,” Smeaton wrote that the practice followed CES model materials. He cited the example of one leading Catholic girls’ school in north London, whose policy document indicated that Year 10 pupils (ages 14–15) would be taught to “understand how to get further advice, including how and where to access confidential sexual and reproductive health advice and treatment.” Smeaton described that phrasing as the language used by the British government to refer to information about obtaining abortion and contraception without parental knowledge or consent.
Smeaton pointed to the CES Model RSE Curriculum, which directed that pupils should be taught “Where and how to obtain sexual health information, advice and support” and “who to talk to for accurate advice and support in the event of unintended pregnancy.” He argued that the CES ensured schoolchildren learned how to access abortion through its promotion of Life to the Full, the relationships and sex education program created by Ten Ten Resources in partnership with the CES. The program was reported to be in use in over 80 percent of Catholic schools.
According to Smeaton’s account, Life to the Full met British government legal requirements by presenting abortion as a choice, treating the sacredness of human life from the moment of conception as one possible position among many, and repeatedly promoting Childline, a counseling service that explained to children how to obtain an abortion without their parents knowing. He described specific video materials in the program that framed abortion as a “big decision” for a fictional character and urged pupils to “develop your own values and attitudes related to the topic.” In other sessions, presenters referred to the beginning of life at conception as a “Christian perspective” or a matter of belief rather than an established scientific fact.
The claims occurred against the background of statutory guidance from England’s Department for Education. That guidance required secondary schools to teach the full range of contraceptive choices and to inform pupils that there were choices in relation to pregnancy, including medically and legally accurate information on keeping the baby, adoption, abortion, and where to get further help. It also called for instruction on how and where to access confidential sexual and reproductive health advice and treatment. Catholic schools were required to produce written policies following the government guidance while also delivering relationships and sex education in accordance with the teaching of the Church.
CES and bishops’ conference documents from the period stated that Catholic schools could and should teach in line with Church teaching on the dignity of the human person, the sanctity of life, marriage, and related matters, and that this approach remained compatible with the government requirements. Official materials emphasized that schools were not forced to endorse ideologies or life choices contrary to Catholic doctrine and that parents remained the primary educators. Ten Ten Resources had previously responded to criticisms of Life to the Full by affirming that its materials taught abortion was objectively wrong according to the Catholic Church and that updates had clarified the Church’s position on contraception.
Smeaton, former chief executive of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, called on parents to examine the policies of their children’s schools and resist what he described as a grave contradiction with Catholic teaching.
Cover Image: Catholic Education Services office building at 39 Eccleston Square, Pimlico, London.
