My Lords, following on from the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, the reason that we are discussing this now is because the Government made their announcement on 24 February about what they intended to do. That means that this is our first opportunity to try to suggest two things.
First, this is not an extension of abortion rights. The people who have spoken against it have been, in general, the people who always speak against women’s rights to control their fertility. I have been in this House for 23 years and involved in many such debates. That is the first important thing to say. Whatever the reasons—including the noble Baroness, Lady Stroud, talking about bleeding at home—actually, most of the women in this Chamber will have had miscarriages at home on their own and coped with that happening to them.
It is a bit rich when the noble Lord, Lord Alton, questions the suitability of this issue being discussed when he is a past master, with our support, of bringing forward the issues that he cares most about in Bill after Bill until he succeeds. We have supported him in doing that. I am not suggesting that he should support us at this point, but I should just make the point regarding the suitability of Bills lending themselves to those who are campaigning on issues.
The second reason is that the noble Lord the Minister in front of us and his predecessor talked about the importance of innovation and of using the good things that were developed in the health service as a result of the pandemic. This is one of them. The noble Baroness, Lady Barker, is quite right. Why should this one issue, that has worked, that women want, given that all the statistics that the noble Baroness, Lady Brown, quite rightly mentioned in her succinct contribution were peer-reviewed and scientific, not continue? Women want this and it is safe.