Lord Steel condemns ‘busybodies’ who target women seeking abortions

The architect of the UK’s abortion laws has intervened in the row over whether buffer zones should be set up around clinics, insisting “busybodies have no right to pressurise women” who are seeking to end a pregnancy.

During his time as a Liberal MP, David Steel introduced the Private Member’s Bill which made abortion legal in the UK.

He addressed the issue on Wednesday as concerns mount in the US over access to legal abortion there – and at a time when campaigners in Scotland are ramping up calls for legislation to be brought in to prevent anti-abortion activists mounting demonstrations outside clinics which carry out terminations.

Lord Steel, the former Liberal Party leader who went on to become the first Presiding Officer at the Scottish Parliament, stressed those who “oppose abortion in principle should have their views respected”.

He was also clear that “nobody should be pressured into undertaking abortion if they are opposed to it”.

But he insisted: “Equally, busybodies have no right to pressurise women who wish to do so.”

Scottish Green MSP Gillian Mackay is proposing to introduce a Member’s Bill at Holyrood to legislate for buffer zones around abortion clinics, though the move has so far not been backed by the Scottish Government.

Lord Steel’s comments came after reports based on leaked documents suggested the US Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the 1973 Roe v Wade case that legalised abortion in the country – sparking fears that as many as half of all US states could then introduce bans on terminations.

US President Joe Biden has however made clear his belief that a “woman’s right to choose is fundamental”, adding the “basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned”.

The Democrat president also called for the election of “more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House” in the American mid-term elections in November, so they could pass  legislation that would ensure the right to abortion can be retained.

Lord Steel said the row in the US “reminds us how wrong it is to leave such matters to the courts”.

He added that he therefore welcomed Mr Biden’s decision to encourage Congress to legislate in this area.

Lord Steel noted that when abortion was legalised in the UK in 1967 and in the USA in 1973, at the time this could only happen through “some form of surgery”.

He added: “The currently available abortifacient pill in the early weeks of pregnancy makes the procedure more acceptable.”

Lord Steel quit the Liberal Democrats and announced his retirement from the House of Lords in 2020 after telling the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse that during his time as Liberal leader he had failed to act on allegations against prominent colleague Cyril Smith.