Abortion

Lord Walton of Detchant Excerpts

Thursday 10th October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Tankerness]

My Lords, with regard to the first point that the noble and learned Lord raises, the note that the Director of Public Prosecutions has set out indicates that the evidence was not strong and that the prospects of conviction would not have been high but that, on balance, there was just sufficient prosecution to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction. As the noble and learned Lord well knows, there is a second test—the public interest test. The view taken by the Crown Prosecution Service was that the jury would have had no independent yardstick of professional practice by which to assess the facts of the case—hence the need for the greater clarity which is now being sought. On the other question that he asked, the Director of Public Prosecutions did not consult the Attorney-General before the decision was made not to prosecute. My right honourable friend the Attorney-General has obviously had subsequent discussions with the Director of Public Prosecutions in the context of the review and, without in any way wishing to infringe on the independence of the prosecutor, he believes that the decision was taken in a proper and conscientious way.

[Lord Walton of Detchant (CB)]

My Lords, does the noble and learned Lord accept that there are a number of potentially lethal genetically determined diseases which are transmitted by an X-linked recessive mechanism and hence affect only boys? Does he therefore accept that, unless the availability of pre-implantation diagnosis were available, a female carrier of such a potentially lethal gene would be fully entitled to abort an affected male foetus?