MEDICAL TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY BILL (Hansard, 2 June 1967)

§ Mr. Speaker
I have two announcements to make. One is that I have not selected the Motion on the Order Paper in the name of the hon. Member for Nottingham, West (Mr. English)— That the Bill be recommitted to a Standing Committee whose composition shall reflect the alterations in opinion upon the Bill which have occurred since the Bill received its Second Reading. The second is that, on the list of my selection of Amendments, there is one alteration which I wish to make. There is a group of Amendments being taken with Amendment No. 55, and I had said that I would allow a Division on Amendment No. 11. I understand that the right hon. and learned Member for Warwick and Leamington (Sir J. Hobson) would prefer the Division to take place on Amendment No. 10, so that the list which I have had put up in the Lobbies should read that, with Amendment No. 55, we will take the group of Amendments as listed, but that Amendment No. 10 will be called for Division only and Amendment No. 11 will not be called for Division.

Mr. Norman St. John Stevas (Chelmsford)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. With your permission, if it is in order at this stage, I would like to make a representation to you on your provisional selection of Amendments. It concerns Amendment No. 18, in page 1, line 18, to leave out paragraph (b), which has not been provisionally selected by you. I fully accept, of course, that it is entirely within your discretion which Amendments are selected. However, I make a plea for the selection of Amendment No 18 for debate and a separate Division because of the very strong body of religious opinion which exists in the House and in the country and which regards this eugenic Clause as being in a different category from other Clauses in the Bill—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will not address the 449 Chair at length on the Chairman's undoubted right to select Amendments.

Mr. St. John Stevas
I am just coming to a conclusion, Mr. Speaker. Following the debates upstairs, a very important letter was published in The Times on 24th May from the Primate and other Bishops of the Church of England, and I ask that the whole House be given an opportunity to consider this important Amendment.

§ Mr. Speaker
It would be a bad precedent if, whenever an hon. Gentleman's Amendment was not selected, the Chair were addressed as to the merits of that Amendment. May I assure the hon. Gentleman and the House that I have given long and serious consideration to the selection of Amendments to this Bill. I realise the importance of the debates upon which we are now entering. All the factors, including one which the hon. Gentleman has mentioned, were in my mind when I made my selection. It is quite a generous selection.
With the first new Clause (Panel to undertake requirements of s.1(a)(i) of Act), we are taking Amendment No. 1, in page 1, line 7, to leave out 'a registered medical practitioner' and to insert: 'or under the supervision of a registered medical practitioner holding an appointment as a consultant in the National Health Service or a registered medical practitioner approved for the purposes of this section by the Minister or the Secretary of State.' Amendment No. 2, in line 7, to leave out' a registered medical practitioner' and to insert: 'or under the supervision of, a registered medical practitioner holding an appointment as a consultant in the National Health Service or a registered medical practitioner of equivalent experience approved for the purposes of this section by the Minister or Secretary of State', And Amendment No. 3, in line 8, after second 'practitioner' to insert: 'one of whom shall be a consultant holding an appointment involving the practice of gynaecology under a hospital board'.

§ Mr. David Steel (Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. On this immediate selection with new Clause 1, I have spoken to the Mover of Amendment No. 28, in line 22, at the end to insert: 'by a person who is or has been a consultant holding an appointment under a hospital board involving the practice of gynaecology or by a 450 registered medical practitioner presently holding such an appointment, or by a registered medical practitioner who is currently approved for the purposes of this section—

(a) by a local health authority which is satisfied that without such approval insufficient persons qualified by this section will be available to give a convenient and adequate public and private service within its area in respect of such treatment; or

(b) in the case of the services by the Minister or the Secretary of State

and must be carried out'. the right hon. and learned Member for Warwick and Leamington (Sir J. Hobson), which has been separately selected. He agrees that this is an Amendment of the same principle and would be agreeable to it being taken together with this first selection.

§ Mr. Speaker
I have no objection, if the House has none. There seems to be no objection. In that event, in the first debate we will take Amendment No. 28 as well.