Her manager told a pregnant 19-year-old London apprentice she should have an abortion because she was too young.
She chose her baby anyway, and from that day forward the salon treated her like a problem.
Then she sent her boss one simple question, and nineteen minutes later her apprenticeship was gone.
Salon Boss Told Pregnant Apprentice to Have an Abortion
Her name is J Hewitt, and in October 2023 she started as a trainee stylist at Elite Hair Lounge in Stockwell, South London.
On December 4, 2023, she told manager Edna Houshyar she was expecting.
According to the employment tribunal that later heard her case, Houshyar's answer was that Hewitt "should have an abortion as she was too young."
Houshyar also wanted to know whether the baby's father was even "around."
That isn't a boss giving career advice.
That's a gatekeeper deciding which babies deserve to be born.
Hewitt kept her baby.
What came next was a slow squeeze.
On December 22, the salon docked her as late because she'd been at a medical appointment.
Another time, she was refused permission to go to an ultrasound – the scan where a mother first sees her child.
Her job kept her on her feet all day, yet the tribunal found nobody at the salon ever talked about easing her load or checked whether the work was safe for her.
When pregnancy migraines put her on a doctor's note in January 2024, Houshyar told her: "I don't think with this situation that you have… you can continue."
"This situation" was a baby.
Fired for Being Pregnant 19 Minutes After Asking About Maternity Leave
At 5:30 p.m. on January 18, 2024, Hewitt messaged her manager with the question every expectant mother asks.
Would her job be waiting after maternity leave, and could she finish her apprenticeship once the baby arrived?
At 5:49 p.m., she was fired.
The salon claimed unspecified "milestones" hadn't been met.
Hewitt fought back, filing a formal grievance in April 2024 that put the abortion remark on the record.
Suddenly the salon remembered lateness, absences, and bad customer service.
So she took Elite Hair Lounge to an employment tribunal – Britain's court for workplace disputes.
Employment Judge Beckett heard the case and wasn't buying the salon's story.
The tribunal found no warnings, no paper trail of performance problems, and every day she missed had been approved.
Beckett ruled Hewitt's pregnancy was the "reason, or principal reason" she was fired and called the 19-minute gap "important evidence."
The tribunal upheld, in whole or in part, her claims of automatic unfair dismissal, direct pregnancy discrimination, and direct age discrimination.
Elite Hair Lounge was ordered to pay her £29,489.62 – roughly $40,000.
Planned Parenthood Faced Pregnancy Discrimination Claims From Its Workers
Hewitt is no one-off.
Britain's Equality and Human Rights Commission estimated as many as 54,000 mothers a year are pushed out of their jobs.
American women hear the same message.
A Novartis saleswoman said a manager told her that single, unmarried women in her position should consider an abortion, and she was passed over for promotion after maternity leave.
The worst offender was the abortion industry itself.
In 2018, former Planned Parenthood employees came forward describing a workplace where pregnancy was treated as a nuisance.
Ta'Lisa Hairston, a medical assistant at a New York clinic, had high blood pressure, and supervisors brushed off nurses' notes asking that she get breaks.
She ended up in an emergency C-section at 34 weeks.
"I had to hold back tears talking to pregnant women, telling them to take care of their pregnancies when I couldn't take care of mine," she said.
At the time, only six of Planned Parenthood's 55 regional affiliates offered regular paid maternity leave.
That's the same outfit that was pulling in more than $500 million a year in taxpayer money while lecturing America about women's health.
Biden's EEOC Wrote Abortion Into the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
Congress passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to help women keep their jobs through pregnancy.
In April 2024, Joe Biden's EEOC twisted it into a mandate forcing employers to accommodate elective abortions.
Andrea Lucas, now Trump's EEOC chair, voted no, warning the rule reached "virtually every condition, circumstance, or procedure that relates to any aspect of the female reproductive system."
In May 2025, a federal judge in Louisiana struck down the abortion mandate after Louisiana, Mississippi, and the Catholic bishops sued.
A teenager in a London salon learned what that mindset looks like up close.
When a baby becomes an inconvenience, somebody always suggests getting rid of the baby.
Hewitt refused, took her boss to court, and won.
It's exactly the moment life-affirming pregnancy centers exist for, when everyone around a young woman insists the baby is the problem.
Every young mother being told she's "too young" deserves to hear how this one ended.
Sources:
- Bridget Sielicki, "Her boss told her to abort her baby. When she didn't, she was fired.," Live Action, September 2026.
- Ma. Kyla Morco, "Pregnant Hairdresser, 19, Was Told to 'Have an Abortion' – Then Sacked 20 Minutes After Asking About Maternity Leave," International Business Times UK, September 16, 2026.
- Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, "London hairdressing apprentice awarded £29,000 in damages after manager told her to 'have an abortion'," SPUC, September 2026.
- Equality and Human Rights Commission, "Pregnancy and maternity discrimination research findings," EHRC, May 25, 2018.
- Catherine Livingston, "Abortion culture: Pregnant employees are still punished for choosing life," Live Action.
- Catholic News Agency, "Pregnant employees accuse Planned Parenthood of discrimination," Angelus News, January 3, 2019.
- Jack Crowe, "Planned Parenthood Accused of Discriminating against Pregnant Employees," National Review, December 20, 2018.
- Andrea R. Lucas, "Statement re: Vote on Final Rule to Implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act," U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, April 3, 2024.
