Complications from Abortions (Annual Report) Bill [HL]

Baroness Thornton Excerpts

Friday 6th June 2025 Lords Chamber

Debate on whether Clause 1 should stand part of the Bill.

[Baroness Thornton (Lab)]

My Lords, it was a great honour to listen to the last debate. I commend my noble friend Lord Patel for leading a wonderful debate. However, we move on, and I shall explain to the Committee why I am opposing this clause standing part.

First, I have always understood that a Private Member’s Bill in either House should seek to remedy one problem or issue which needs primary legislation to do so. I say respectfully that I do not think that the Bill of the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, fulfils this criterion. It is not a necessary solution to a problem or lack of something, because there is not a problem to be solved that requires primary legislation. That is why I have not sought to amend the Bill.

The reason why there is not a problem to be answered is that the information about complications from all medical procedures, including abortions, are already collected. We might question the efficacy of data collection, the fact that systems do not talk to each other across our NHS, and all of those things; they definitely need to be improved, but we do not need primary legislation to do so. In the case of abortions, it is the only kind of healthcare in the UK that is governed by specific criminal law. Regulations issued under the Abortion Act 1967 require that for every abortion, a woman’s name, date of birth or personal identifier is submitted and provided to the Chief Medical Officer via the abortion notification system. NHS numbers are not required. This data includes complications which are identified before patients are discharged from clinics and the information is managed by the Department of Health and Social Care.

My second reason is, why should abortion be singled out as a medical procedure? This particular and singular primary legislation would require the UK Government to publish

“an annual report on complications from the termination of pregnancy in England”.

Why not knee replacements, appendicitis operations, operations to remove tumours, heart bypasses, cataracts, hernias and the many other everyday or complex procedures, all of which carry both cures and risks which are explained to patients and whose outcomes are recorded?

The Secretary of State will be required in this case to include the complication rate for abortions by the age of the woman, by the method of abortion, by gestation and by complication type as a minimum. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is very clear that the proposal in this Bill is neither practical nor deliverable and, if passed, this Bill would therefore require the Secretary of State to produce an annual report using data collections that are inadequate to fulfil its aims.