Conscientious Objection (Medical Activities) Bill [HL]

My Lords, my name is added to this group of amendments. I intend to speak very briefly to say tha...

Does my noble friend not agree that there might be some fellows of the Royal College of Obstetric...

That is the point, in a way, of the current situation: it allows people to disagree and to not ha...

My Lords, I too support the amendment and the obvious corollary amendments later, which are desig...

I hesitate to interrupt the noble and learned Lord, but will he confirm that abortion is not alwa...

I absolutely accept that of course that is right. I was putting it in that shorthand way simply t...

I wonder whether I may press the noble and learned Lord on the specific question of exemption. Wh...

With respect, I stand precisely with the Supreme Court. I think those 13 tasks were analysed and ...

My Lords, I strongly support the amendments in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Steel, and others...

I may have misunderstood the noble Lord, but I think that he said that the Bill would enable a do...

The wording of the Bill makes sure that a doctor who has conscientious objections to a procedure ...

Can I ask the noble Lord to refer me to the section of the Bill that does that, because it is not...

I can. Clause 1(1)(c) refers to:

“No medical practitioner with a conscientious objection to...

My Lords, I spoke at Second Reading against this Bill, very much in support of the result of the ...

My Lords, I support Amendment 1, in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Steel, and the other amendme...

My Lords, I want to speak in very general terms in relation to Amendment 1 by the noble Lord, Lor...

I wanted to develop the noble and learned Lord’s theme of recognising the objection then allowing...

My Lords, to add to that, in the debate at Second Reading, the noble and learned Lord suggested t...

I was looking for help in this area from people who know better than me about administration, bec...

I take exception to that idea. There are people in this Chamber who do not agree with that defini...

I am not saying that this is right; I am trying to describe what I believe to be the conscientiou...

Does the noble and learned Lord accept, though, that the narrow case of Mary Doogan and the midwi...

That is why probably the best solution that I have seen so far is to try to accommodate a contrac...

Does the noble and learned Lord therefore think it is a good situation for us to be in that, for ...

I would like to correct that impression, if I may. I hope it might be useful if I might still be ...

The present Bill seeks to introduce a restatement of the law concerning conscientious objection. ...

Does the noble Lord, whom I would be happy to call my noble friend, agree that in the case of Doo...

I read the Doogan judgment with equal care to my noble and learned friend Lord Brown, but the fac...

I thank my noble friend for giving way. At Second Reading, the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, menti...

I respect my noble friend’s opinion. The point I am making is that we are not here talking about ...

My Lords, I also spoke at Second Reading. I spoke then in fairly general terms about conscience a...

I thank the right reverend Prelate for giving way. I have never intervened to interrupt somebody ...

My Lords, I have read Doogan and I am aware of what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brown, is sa...

I am grateful to the right reverend Prelate for giving way. When each piece of legislation was pa...

I am aware of what the noble Baroness is saying. I am using the example of supervision because it...

My Lords, the thing that all the amendments in this group hold in common is the belief that consc...

The Committee deserves clarity on that statement, if the noble Lord, Lord McColl, does not mind. ...

I thank the noble Lord for his intervention. I am not saying that it happens now; I am saying wha...

Does the noble Lord accept that the Doogan case correctly decided and accurately states the law a...

Yes, I accept that entirely, but we do not necessarily have to abide by that decision. If people ...

Will the noble Lord define what he means by “facilitate”? The amendment refers to someone “partic...

Facilitate means a great number of different things, but the 1967 Act did provide—

My point is that if a secretary in a hospital or a clerk who was involved in this service had a c...

If she has a conscientious objection to it, then she should not be obliged to do it, because the ...

The noble Lord makes a very good point. Indeed, a case was referred to earlier in Committee conce...

Or not.

Or not.

Thank you—that is very helpful.

Somebody did suggest that there was not a great number of p...

Again, I come back to the provisions in Clause 1(2). The noble Lord says that there are enough pe...

There are 1,200,000 employees in the NHS. Surely there are people who can do the delegation, so t...

My Lords, perhaps I have not made myself clear. There would be no duty on the person who did not ...

That is exactly right but, as I keep saying, there are hordes of people around—1,200,000 people—s...

My Lords, I am sure that the noble Lord is right in his interpretation of the Bill. It lays no du...

Before the noble Lord, Lord McColl, replies, at the moment there is a duty to refer, but that dut...

My Lords, delegation and referral are not the same thing and what is provided for in the Bill is ...

I am delighted to be interrupted. A debate is about toing and froing, and there is not enough of ...

My Lords, I was unable to speak at Second Reading and I apologise for that—I was at a family fune...

As the noble Baroness has mentioned my name, perhaps I might add that there was a case of a presi...

The point that I wanted to make is that, as a consequence, in whichever way we now plan, purchase...

The noble Baroness seems to be suggesting that we are attempting in some way to restrict access t...

The Bill does not do that. That is what this scrutiny is about. It really does not. If the noble ...

That is exactly what we are doing. This is a very useful debate.

I was not implying that the noble Baroness was trying to destroy the Abortion Act completely. I e...

My Lords, I have been trying to stand up for some minutes. First, I pay tribute to the noble Lord...

My Lords, I was not planning to intervene in this group, but the entire debate has focused on abo...

Does my noble friend Lady Meacher recognise that hospices do not provide life-sustaining treatmen...

I understand that in many hospices the emphasis is, as my noble friend said, on symptom control—i...

I am sorry, but I have to intervene again. I should have declared my interest as palliative care ...

My Lords, sometimes groupings in our debates make things difficult for people who are trying to t...

My Lords, in his remarks just now the noble Lord invited me to contribute at this point in the Co...

This is a very interesting point. Should they leave the service or not? I had a very recent exper...

The noble Baroness is of course right; you cannot ever say with any certainty what will happen an...

My noble friend Lady Finlay’s example is perfectly correct. It was not the same as my example. My...

We are agreed about that. The point I made at Second Reading when my noble friend Lady Richardson...

Very briefly, by way of personal explanation, I hope I did not imply that people should leave the...

‘I was very grateful that the gynaecologist who saw my own children into the world did not suppor...

My Lords, I have listened with great care to the various speakers who have articulated their view...

My Lords, time is against us. For me, that is deeply frustrating because I have listened with gre...

I just want to add two words to that. The noble Baroness, Lady Barker, is completely correct. The...

My Lords, we are running out of time and the Committee will want to try to dispose of this amendm...

The noble Lord can join our private practice if he wishes.

Perhaps we should get together outside of this House and work out a framework that is workable. I...