Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider that the principles and prohibitions regarding eugenic practices in the Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine form part of the constitutional traditions common to member states of the European Union.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The United Kingdom has not signed or ratified the Council of Europe’s Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 14 May (WA 511), why they have no set date for the full ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Government does not support eugenic practices. It is not considered helpful to interpret the term ‘eugenic practices' other than by reference to its ordinarily understood meaning. Any attempt at a working definition would risk the unintentional exclusion of practices whose unacceptability is no less great than that of practices captured by such a definition.
As previously stated, in the United Kingdom, the complex nature of devolved responsibilities in this range of policy areas has delayed consideration of full ratification. In the meantime, the UK continues to take an active role in Council of Europe negotiations and development of relevant protocols.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 14 May (WA 511), and in the light of the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 8 April (WA 267) stating that they do not support eugenic practices in the United Kingdom, why they have no definitions of what these practices might be.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Government does not support eugenic practices. It is not considered helpful to interpret the term ‘eugenic practices' other than by reference to its ordinarily understood meaning. Any attempt at a working definition would risk the unintentional exclusion of practices whose unacceptability is no less great than that of practices captured by such a definition.
As previously stated, in the United Kingdom, the complex nature of devolved responsibilities in this range of policy areas has delayed consideration of full ratification. In the meantime, the UK continues to take an active role in Council of Europe negotiations and development of relevant protocols.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 14 May (WA 499), what is their assessment of whether issuing guidance by amending the wording of form HSA1 would represent an act of secondary legislation or a change in the Abortion Act 1967.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Any changes to the wording of the HSA1 form, if needed, would require changes to secondary legislation. Such changes could not be introduced through guidance, which makes no changes to abortion legislation.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the evidence cited in the article "An Increase in the Sex Ratio of Births to India-born Mothers in England and Wales: Evidence for Sex-Selective Abortion" by Sylvie Dubuc and David Coleman published in Population and Development Review, vol 33, No. 2 (June 2007), pp383–400.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
This article is a useful addition to the evidence base around sex selective abortions.
On 23 May 2014 the Department published updated analysis of birth ratios for England and Wales 2008-2012. The analyses by country of birth and ethnicity did not offer evidence of sex selection taking place within England and Wales. A copy of the report has been placed in the Library. It is also available at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/analysis-of-male-to-female-birth-ratios-in-the-uk-2008-to-2012.
The Department will repeat this analysis on an annual basis following publication of birth data and remain vigilant and receptive to reports of such practice.