Historical Forced Adoption

Debate between Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway and Baroness Smith of Basildon

Tuesday 7th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord, but I must correct him: I do not think the Church ever preached that sex was sinful. It was only sinful if you did not have a wedding ring; I think it was quite happy about it once the wedding ceremony had taken place. However, the noble Lord is right that this was a societal and cultural issue. As I said, I think parents colluded in that because of the shame it brought on the family, and it is a shocking thing to say that that might have happened in your own family.

We are in different times. With the advances that have been made in society in our approach, with the great reforms in the 1960s to marriage, to divorce, to contraception and on a whole range of issues, we now think differently. However, the noble Lord is right that there is a movement among those who have a very misogynistic attitude towards women—just look at the Question we had today about the gang raping of women within relationships having been drugged by partners—and we have to be clear, to speak out and to act, taking action that is as strong as possible wherever it occurs. But that starts with language. In relation to some of the videos online where women are disrespected and it is seen as some kind of macho thing to disrespect women, I think all of us will want to speak out about that and speak out with one voice.

[Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway (Lab)]

My Lords, I add my voice to those of everybody else in thanking my noble friend for repeating the Prime Minister's Statement and for its sensitivity and compassion. I particularly support the actions that will be taken. But does my noble friend agree that the scandal was possible only because of the scale of stigma and discrimination against single mothers—“unmarried mothers”, as they were called? Does she agree that, although there has been progress, that stigma and discrimination against single mothers is still very much with us? Single mothers have reported in recent surveys that not only do they face financial pressures in raising children alone—look at stories in parts of the press or listen, I am afraid, even to some politicians and the way that they talk disrespectfully about single mothers, particularly working-class single mothers—but that prejudice is still with us. Is there more action that we could take to counter that prejudice once and for all?

[Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is right that some people will find any excuse to demonise or act against or disrespect one group of people, and lone parents, particularly mothers, have often found themselves in that place. I remember talking to a lone parent who was a single mum of two young children because her husband had been killed, and she found the same kind of discrimination against her at times. There is the mother who has been left by the man who has left her with the children. There are lots of reasons why women are bringing up children on their own. I think all of us want the kind of society where we support each other and have respect for each other, and to discriminate against somebody on the basis of those kinds of issues, we would all agree, is totally wrong. The noble Baroness is absolutely right that we should all take care with the language we use and how we discuss these issues, and we should think before we speak.