SWINDON peer Lord Stoddart has launched a blistering attack on abortion law, saying it is now far too easy for women to have the procedure.

In a scathing assessment, he said thousands of lives were being lost without good reason.

He said: "We have now reached a alarming situation where viable foetuses, which could live a good and useful life perhaps even be geniuses are killed unnecessarily."

The former Swindon MP who, as a Government whip, played an important role in legalising abortion in 1967 said he had not foreseen what would happen.

He said: "When I was supporting these measures I did not dream that we would reach a figure of 155,000 abortions every single year.

"That is an enormous number. We are allowing the abortion of 155,000 souls every year."

Lord Stoddart, who does not follow any faith, insisted he should not be dismissed as a religious maniac for making the comments.

He said the problem was that original laws had been subverted.

Speaking in the House of Lords, he told fellow peers the 1967 "Steel Bill" had been designed to stop back-street abortionists.

The law was intended to protect women and allow terminations of severely disabled foetuses with no prospect of a decent, viable lifestyle.

Lord Stoddart said: "But we have gone a long way beyond that now.

"We have gone beyond what we thought we were doing. We now have virtually abortion on demand.

"We have a woman's absolute right to have an abortion irrespective of other interests and the interests of other people.

"I believe that we have come a long way too far."

His remarks came in a debate over the abortion of foetuses with minor handicaps.

Peers called for tougher rules to stop terminations for non-serious disabilities such as cleft palates.