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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

My Lords, to anyone lying in a bed with a doctor leaning over them saying, ““You have a life-threatening condition”” the meaning is entirely clear. We would all appreciate exactly what that meant. Equally, if some doctor leant over any one of us and said, ““You have a potentially life-threatening condition unless you do X or forestall doing Y””, we would all understand that. Yet if a doctor were to say to one, ““You have a serious condition””, that could be interpreted in a great number of ways, meaning giving up a bit of that or doing a bit more of the other, with an unclear end to it. The amendment in the name of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd of Berwick, has exact clarity, which he quite rightly says that we in this House should always aim for. We should never—my words, not his—legislate for that which we cannot define. We can clearly define ““life-threatening””; we can also with equal clarity define ““potentially life-threatening””. However, it is extremely hard to define ““serious”” in a way that would satisfy all noble Lords.