An investigation has been launched after a junior doctor claimed he was turned down for a job because he refused to have anything to do with abortions.

The North Glasgow Universities trust has said it will look into the interview process involving Everett Julyan following his complaints that he was denied a job because of his views on terminations.

Dr Julyan, 26, a Christian, has claimed he was informed he could not have the post of house officer with the trust because he told interviewers this year that he would have nothing to do with training which involved abortion.

During the interview in March for a placement in a gynaecology department, Dr Julyan said he was asked if he would ever "clerk a patient in for an abortion" - a process which involves taking the patient's history and doing an examination. He said he would not.

"I was called the next day and told I hadn't got the job because of that answer," he said. "I was utterly devastated. My wife was in tears, I was distraught.

"If you don't get a job there is no onus on the employer to say why. But they volunteered the information. Given my views I find it deeply distressing that anyone should suggest being a gynaecologist requires conducting abortions." A spokesman for the trust said: "The trust is an equal opportunities employer so we have to investigate claims of this nature."

Dr Julyan now works for South Glasgow Universities trust at the city's Southern general hospital.

The anti-abortion group Christian Action Research plans to challenge the Scottish executive on the issue. The group's spokesman, Gordon MacDonald, said it was an infringement of human rights to penalise a doctor for his beliefs. "There is a conscience clause in the 1967 Abortion Act which allows doctors to opt out of performing abortions if they have a conscientious objection," he said.

A spokesman for the British Medical Association in Scotland said that it could not comment on the individual claims but that the rights of doctors and patients must be considered together. He said it was an issue that the association had come up against on a number of occasions.

"There are two sides to this issue that must be finely balanced," the spokesman said. "First of all, the right of doctors to conscientiously object and excuse themselves from not just abortion practices but any particular practice which they did not feel squared with their personal beliefs. At the same time that should not impact on patients' access to services."

Earlier this year a survey by the family planning organisation, Marie Stopes International, found that almost one GP in five described themselves as anti-abortion.