Demonstration outside Marie Stopes Clinic, Belfast 2012
The High Court in London has ruled women from Northern Ireland are not legally entitled to free abortions on the NHS in England.
The case was brought by a 15-year-old girl (claimant A) and her mother who live in Northern Ireland.
After becoming pregnant, she travelled to England with her mother (claimant B) in October 2012.
The court was told her mother had struggled to part-raise funds to pay for her daughter to have a termination privately in England.
Unlike the rest of the UK, abortion is only allowed in very restricted circumstances in Northern Ireland.
More than 1,000 women each year travel from NI to have an abortion in other parts of the UK.
Those who do travel must pay for their transport, accommodation and the cost of the procedure.
Mr Justice King ruled that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s duty to promote a comprehensive health service in England “is a duty in relation to the physical and mental health of the people of England”, and that duty did not extend “to persons who are ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland”.
In England, Wales and Scotland access to abortion is covered by the 1967 Abortion Act.
High Court in London says NI women not entitled to free NHS abortions in England (BBC News NI)
Previously: Choice Words
File pic: Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland
