Crossbench peer Lord Alton has published the speech he “would have made” had he been able to attend last week’s Lords debate on abortion.
The Lords were debating an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that removes criminal sanctions for abortion. Effectively it would legalise abortion up to the point of birth.
Lord Alton called the proposal a “grotesque measure” and denounced the fact that it passed the House of Commons after just 46 minutes of debate as “deeply shocking”.
In his planned speech, Lord Alton noted that British abortion law is already “far more extreme than most of the western world” - even without the proposed change. He also noted that the Bill in question is ostensibly supposed to be about crime, terrorism and anti-social behaviour, but had effectively been hijacked into becoming a pro-abortion vehicle.
“Hijacking an unrelated Bill to try to force through what would be the biggest change to abortion law in this country since the Abortion Act in 1967 is no way to make law," he said.
“The unintended consequences of this abortion up to birth amendment would mean that rather than protecting women, they would be placed at greater risk - to say nothing of the implications for unborn babies, even so very late in pregnancy."
At present British law permits abortion up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy, while the average in the European Union is 12 weeks. Around a quarter of a million babies are aborted every year at present and it is estimated that almost 11 million babies have been terminated since the passage of the Abortion Act in 1967.
Lord Alton, along with other opponents of the bill, noted that the complete decriminalisation of abortion would likely put women at greater danger, particularly if they opted to perform an at-home abortion of a baby in the late stages of pregnancy.
“Imagine the distress, practicalities, and dehumanisation of these self-administered procedures," he said.
The peer spoke out against the controversial “pills by post” scheme and said he would be supporting an amendment that would restore the requirement of an in-person consultation before granting an abortion. The requirement was dispensed with during the Covid lockdowns.
At the conclusion of his planned speech, Lord Alton said, “If we fail to raise our voices now and fail to rouse the conscience of the nation, both women and unborn babies will be the victims. Both lives matter and we should unhesitatingly say so.
“We are a civilised country – not a barbaric one. Introducing abortion up to birth should have no place in a civilised society. It is abhorrent.”
