"My Lords, it is wonderful to follow the great maiden speech of my noble friend Lord Duvall—Len, to the rest of us—and I am proud to welcome another Labour and Co-op member to your Lordships’ House.
"As we have heard from the noble Lord, Lord Jackson, basically, this suite of amendments drives a coach and horses through abortion rights as a whole, as well as, of course, completely opposing the clause that is under discussion. For example, virtually zero abortions occur at 39 weeks’ gestation. Taking …..." Baroness Thornton - View Speech
"I do not mind. At this stage, they are probably a bit tired too, changing the annunciator.
The noble Lord might say that he is not opposed to abortion but, frankly, these amendments suggest that he probably is...." Baroness Thornton - View Speech
"My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Jackson, has been around this circuit before, I think on a Private Member’s Bill proposed by one of his noble friends, about collecting the statistics. It shows that he does not actually seem to have checked what statistics are already collected before deciding that …..." Baroness Thornton - View Speech
"Does the noble Baroness accept that none of these things has happened in Northern Ireland? We changed the law and decriminalised abortion in Northern Ireland several years ago and literally none of the things that she is mentioning has happened there—nor in any of the other 50 countries where abortion …..." Baroness Thornton - View Speech
"My Lords, I will speak to my Amendment 461J. I thank my noble friend Lady Goudie, the noble Lord, Lord Patel, and the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer, for supporting it.
The amendment seeks to add a new clause after Clause 191 that would pardon women who have …..." Baroness Thornton - View Speech
"How will we know? The noble Viscount needs to tell us how you would know that it was not the loss of a baby through natural circumstances? Who will decide?..." Baroness Thornton - View Speech
"This is not about abortion up to birth, because the Abortion Act 1967 still stands. It is really important that noble Lords try to be accurate in how they describe this. I am not disputing anything the noble Lord says, except that it is not the case that this is …..." Baroness Thornton - View Speech
"I have two questions for the noble and learned Baroness. Why does the noble and learned Baroness think 50 countries have found this not to be a problem? Abortion is decriminalised in virtually every country that has had abortion legislation since the 1967 Act. So, I am wondering why the …..." Baroness Thornton - View Speech