ABORTED BILLS
THOSE who live by the procedural device must be prepared to die by it; as did Mrs Ann Widdecombe last Friday in Parlia- ment when she failed to improve the chances of getting a decision on her private Members' Bill to reform the abortion law. The Leader of the House, Mr John Wake- ham, expressed the Government's genuine appreciation when he said that it would 'be churlish not to congratulate Mr Skinner', whose ingenuity had wrecked Mrs Widde- combe's chances. But it is also clear that changes are needed in the procedures that govern Private Members' Bills. At present there seems to be no way in which indi- vidual Members can even bring a motion to a decisive vote if there are even just a tiny handful of other Members — or the Government itself with its all-powerful pay-roll vote — determined to obstruct progress. One thinks of Mr Enoch Powell's Unborn Children (Protection) Bill of the last Parliament, popular and widely sup- ported both in the House and outside it, and of the various attempts to revise the abortion law which would undoubtedly have passed in a straight vote — if given the chance. Legislation for issues of moral- ity and ethics, as well as many matters concerning individual liberties, are almost always best dealt with Parliament by Pri- vate Members' legislation. The Govern- ment should act to help such Bills.
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