Complications from Abortions (Annual Report) Bill [HL]

Baroness Barker Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 13th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barker (LD)]

My Lords, I am going to take the opportunity to explain the context of the Bill and say what it is really about. In doing so, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, for yet again giving me the opportunity to draw your Lordships’ attention to the right-wing, nationalist, countergender campaign which this Bill and his previous foetal sentience Bill are a part of. We have known for some time that there is an international campaign which has an overriding strategic objective of getting rid of human rights legislation and the organisations responsible for upholding it.

On a tactical level, it has a number of objectives: anti-LGBT campaigning—with a particular emphasis in this country on anti-trans work; anti-sex and relationships education, because the state should have no part in teaching people’s children about sex and relationships; anti-surrogacy, and particularly anti-abortion. People may have read or seen, most notably, the campaigns in places such as Hungary and Poland. It is all about a campaign to restore the natural order—a selective reading and interpretation of biblical order.

When I have said that in this Chamber before, Members of your Lordships’ House have thrown the jibe, “Well, that sounds like a conspiracy theory”. Well, it is not actually, and we have some growing evidence to that effect. I encourage all noble Lords to read Project 2025—it is a very easy and clear read. It says what the organisations behind it, such as the Heritage Foundation, the Alliance Defending Freedom and big supporters of the Conservative Party in this country have as their agenda for the Trump Administration. It is all backed up by billions of dollars going to Africa and billions of dollars coming to Europe including to the UK. It is a campaign which has evolved, just as the anti-abortion campaign has evolved from rather crude demonstrations outside abortion clinics; it has now gone into a slightly different phase. It is now setting up independent universities and colleges; it is producing research evidence; it talks using the language of rights, but all the conclusions go back to that same overall objective. It is very clever, very well organised and brilliantly messaged, but it is what it is: it is a very cynical anti-gender campaign about destroying human rights.

This Bill is an insidious part of that campaign. It is about challenging the medical evidence that does not suit its campaign objectives. I, like other people on my side of the argument, am all in favour of collection and improvement of data. What I am not in favour of is the corruption of medical science by the production of data for a purpose. That, I suggest, is the ultimate aim of the Bill in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Moylan. Therefore, I hope that noble Lords will not be taken in by this, will see it for what it is and work with people such as those at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists who want to improve the data and to make sure that our services are safe for women.