An employment judge in the UK has ruled in favor of a 22 year-old mother of two who was harassed and then eventually fired from her job for refusing to have an abortion.

According to the Mirror, Teri Cumlin’s story began when she told her manager at the charity organization, Engage Fundraising, that she was pregnant.

His response was shocking. "If you want a career then I'd advise you to terminate your baby,” said her manager, Mark Robertson.

Cumlin told him she had no intention of having a termination, that she’d suffered through the heartbreak of a still born baby and would never abort her child.

"He started shouting in my face, telling me how stupid I was and that they wouldn't be able to keep me on,” Cumlin told the Mirror. "It was awful. He drove me and another worker home at the end of our shift and kept saying 'that Teri's life is down the pan, Teri's life is over now'."

And then the harassment began. On one occasion when she became ill on a hot day, Robertson refused to allow her to stand in the shade. He criticized her for taking too many toilet breaks and told her to stop drinking so much. She was often sent home from work without pay after he declared her unfit to work. Eventually, she was demoted from her post as team leader.

Cumlin brought the matter to the attention of the head office but they did nothing about it.

Finally, last December, she was suspended pending investigation of claims of misconduct, then fired a week later.

At this point, she was seven months pregnant and worried sick. "I was left with nothing. I had no money, I was worrying about losing my house. It was a really horrible time in my life. I had a wee girl and a baby on the way and he knew that and yet he still did what he did.”

Not surprisingly, she developed high blood pressure during the pregnancy and required an emergency caesarean section in February due to complications. Her newborn son, Thomas, was in intensive care for a week.

"It was awful,” Cumlin said. “It was just a horrible time in my life. And I blame it all on [Mr Robertson].”

Cumlin retained a lawyer, Agnes Maxwell-Ferguson, of EMC Solicitors, who took the matter to an employment tribunal where Judge Robert Gall sided with the young mother and said he “regarded the dismissal as an act of discrimination.” He awarded her $19,000.

Cumlin is pleased with the award but says "the whole thing has just been so stressful."

Maxwell-Ferguson said she hopes the case “highlights to employers this attitude towards pregnant workers cannot be tolerated in the current workplace."

A spokesman for Engage told the Mirror they were unaware of the tribunal and are now looking to appeal the decision.

© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com