§ Mr. Bob Clay (Sunderland, North)It gives me great pleasure to present a petition from 94 patients of the Bourn Hall clinic near Cambridge. Today we have heard many petitions from thousands of people against the Unborn Children (Protection) Bill—so-called. No people have a greater right to petition the House than those patients who are benefiting from in vitro fertilisation. The petition states:
To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled.
The Humble Petition of Patients at Bourn Hall Clinic sheweth that Enoch Powell's, Unborn Children (Protection) Bill will adversely affect the treatment of patients undergoing in vitro fertilisation. Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your honourable House vote against the Unborn Children (Protection) Bill at Third Reading.
And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc. The petition was signed by 94 men and women from every part of the United Kingdom, from Scotland to the south-west of England—from London, Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Lancashire. The House should pause to think and take great note of their plea. It is a tragedy that this private clinic is not funded by the NHS. Unless the House takes note of the petition, it will not be—
Mr. Speaker: Order. I must stop the hon. Member, because he has already given his prayer. That is where he should finish. If the hon. Member wanted to make remarks, he should have done so before the petition was read.
To lie upon the Table.