My Lords, as noble Lords have said, at the very heart of this debate are the women, unborn children and their families who are affected by this issue. We must almost have them at the forefront of our consideration. I found what the noble Lord, Lord Shinkwin, said very powerful and moving. As the father of a child born with severe disability myself, I entirely understand what he said. I have spoken to, and been friendly with, many families with children with disabilities. They have found their family lives richly rewarding and speak powerfully to the value of every life. That must always be central when we discuss the issues of constitutionality, devolution settlements, the Sewel convention, parliamentary rights and so on.
On this side of the argument we simply ask that all lives matter. In consultation after consultation in Northern Ireland—and this is a devolved matter—the people of Northern Ireland have responded by saying that they value all lives and that they do not want the sweeping laws that have been introduced there to apply to them, especially when no one has voted for that. We now have the most liberal abortion laws anywhere in the United Kingdom and, even if you believe in abortion, you cannot say that that is a correct and proper process for Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Assembly voted to reject these regulations on 2 June 2020. This is not some theoretical matter which the Assembly has not considered; it did consider it and, because of the sweeping nature of the laws, rejected the regulations. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was quoted by the BBC as saying that he was, nevertheless, committed to the regulations because they must comply with a UN convention. However, as has been pointed out, there are no such convention obligations. Paragraph 7.7 of the Explanatory Memorandum says that
“paragraphs 85 and 86 of the CEDAW Report”,
on which the legislation was based, and which we were told was its justification,
“are not binding and do not constitute international obligations.”
We therefore need to be very clear, when we come to vote, exactly what we are voting on, and keep all those unborn children in mind.
3.17 pm