Health and Care Bill

Maria Miller Excerpts

Report stage
Tuesday 23rd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Emma Hardy]

I will be brief, speaking to new clause 32 in my name. It is an amendment based on the proposed Charlie’s law. I thank my dear friend and colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, Southgate (Bambos Charalambous), who has been working on the issue with the Charlie Gard Foundation and the tireless campaigning of Charlie’s parents.

I will be as brief as I can be. In short, my new clause seeks to do five things: first, to require the Secretary of State to put in place measures to improve early access to mediation services in hospitals where conflict is in prospect; secondly, to provide for access to appropriate clinical ethics committees, so that both doctors and parents are supported in making difficult decisions by impartial ethical experts; thirdly, to provide the means necessary to obtain second medical opinions swiftly and to ensure that, when requested, parents receive access to their child’s full medical data, so that the second opinions are fully informed; fourthly, to provide access to legal aid to ensure that families are not forced to employ costly legal representation or to rely on outside interest groups to fund representation in court; and, finally, to create a new legal test of whether an alternative credible medical treatment would cause a child a disproportionate risk or significant harm in deciding whether a parent is able to seek that treatment for their child.

In essence, the provisions set out in the new clause would mitigate conflicts at the earliest stage, ensure that the voices and opinions of parents are listened to, save hundreds and thousands of pounds for parents, doctors and the NHS in protracted legal battles, and ensure that a critically ill child is given the best care and support available at a crucial time in that child’s life. No parent wants to spend time in court or in battle against the NHS when their child is critically ill. There must be a better way to resolve conflict. I hope that the Minister looks seriously at my new clause 32 and at ways to incorporate it into future legislation.

[Mrs Maria Miller (Basingstoke) (Con)]

I speak to new clause 50, tabled in my name and that of the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Dame Diana Johnson).

We badly need a wake-up call, because at the moment we are allowing the criminal law as currently drafted to drive a fundamental wedge between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, treating women in Northern Ireland in a completely different way from women in England and Wales when it comes to abortion. Two years ago, the Government changed the law governing abortion in Northern Ireland after a vote in this place, removing criminal sanctions on abortions in Northern Ireland, while leaving women in England and indeed Wales facing the possibility of the harshest criminal sanctions for abortion in the world, under laws passed more than 50 years before any women was even able to vote for the people representing them in this place.

New clause 50 would change that. It would decriminalise abortion and ensure that women in England and Wales are treated in the same way as women in Northern Ireland when it comes to abortion. Our values and our rights are what unite our four nations. To treat women differently in those nations weakens those ties. That needs to be rectified. The new clause does just that, and it would change nothing about abortion services, access to abortion or the time limits on abortion.

The women most likely to be affected and governed by the criminal law are some of the most vulnerable in our society: victims of domestic abuse, of honour-based violence and of rape, and those who are too poor or marginalised to travel to a clinic to seek help. If a desperate woman attempts to end her pregnancy, do we really want her to not seek medical help for fear of arrest and prosecution? New clause 50 simply removes women from being subject to the criminal law for seeking an abortion, and it is fully supported by the medical experts, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of General Practitioners.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jim Shannon]

It is a pleasure to be able to make some comments on Third Reading. The Secretary of State and the Minister will know my position on these matters. I should like to commend the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) and my hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) for their dedication to these issues. Their passion in this House is matched by many in my constituency who, despite the fact that their view is constantly disregarded, still urge me in their hundreds—I received hundreds of emails yesterday and hundreds today—to do what I can to speak for life. That is what I do here today. I care about the life of the woman and I care about the life of the unborn child. I am starting from the position that both lives matter, and it is one on which I stand firm.

In this House, there is a large number of MPs who are opposed to abortion on demand and who have an opinion on that. They include those who represent Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK in this House. I want to reiterate my position on the last vote that took place in Northern Ireland. An opinion poll found that 60% of constituents were opposed to abortion on demand. I am sure that I am far from being alone in recognising the double standards that our medical guidelines currently endorse, fighting for a life at 22 weeks in one case and ending it at 22 weeks in another case.

There are those who advocate that choice comes above viability, but that view is not replicated even by the many who support abortion in principle. It is a pity that clause 31 and clauses 51 and 52 were not brought to the House today. We expressed our concern some time ago that this House making the decision for Northern Ireland over and above the views of its elected representatives, its constituents and a majority of people across Northern Ireland would have an impact on the abortion rules in this House. We would have had an example of that today if new clause 50 had been approved, which it was not. It would have removed vital safeguards for women and girls seeking abortions up to 28 weeks of pregnancy, such as the requirement for two doctors, or even any medical professional, to be involved. The law change that was agreed in this House for Northern Ireland could have the shocking impact of placing at risk women and girls in abusive situations. It could legalise abortions that women and girls would carry out on themselves up to 28 weeks of pregnancy, for any reason.

[Mrs Miller]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Jim Shannon]

I have almost finished my speech.

The Health and Care Bill is an opportunity to improve health and wellbeing, and it should not be usurped to remove essential safeguards such as contact with a medical professional, counselling and referral to appropriate care pathways. This House must be mindful, whatever decisions it takes here, that those decisions will have an impact on Northern Ireland. We in Northern Ireland are very concerned, and there is great disappointment at where we are.

Question put, That the Bill be now read the Third time.