Abortion

A woman who was sentenced to jail for unlawfully securing abortion tablets to terminate her own pregnancy will be released following a reduction of her sentence by Court of Appeal judges. The judges stated that the situation required "compassion, not punishment".

Anti-abortion protests will be banned outside abortion clinics in Northern Ireland by September 2023, the Department of Health has said. The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act (Northern Ireland) 2023 was one of the last pieces of legislation approved by MLAs shortly before the Northern Irelan

Plans to ban anti-abortion protests from taking place within 100 metres of healthcare providers have moved forward with the approval of the draft bill by ministers. This Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023 will deliver on a long-standing government commitment to

An English woman who took abortion pills beyond the 24-week statutory limit has been jailed for 14 months, sparking fresh calls for the decriminalisation of abortion in England and Wales. Carla Foster, a 44-year-old mother-of-three, pleaded guilty to the offence of administering poison with intent t

Legislation providing for the complete decriminalisation of abortion and the abolition of the mandatory three-day waiting period before an abortion can be carried out has cleared a major hurdle in the Dáil. The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) (Amendment) Bill 2023, introduced

Ministers have referred recommendations for legislative reform included in a review of abortion law by barrister Marie O'Shea BL to the Oireachtas joint committee on health for its consideration. Ms O’Shea was appointed last January to lead the second phase of the review required under section

A court order which would have banned access to abortion pills across the United States has been stayed by the country's Supreme Court pending further appeals. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a conservative judge in Texas, had this month ordered the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revoke its long-

An independent review led by barrister Marie O'Shea BL is expected to recommend significant changes to Ireland's abortion laws. Ms O'Shea was appointed last January to lead the second phase of the review required under section 7 of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018.

An abortion rights activist in Poland has been sentenced to eight months of community service after being found guilty of facilitating abortion. Justyna Wydrzyńska was convicted by a court in Warsaw of helping a pregnant woman to access abortion pills for an at-home abortion.

French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to enshrine the right to abortion in the country's constitution. In a speech made in Paris paying tribute Gisèle Halimi, a lawyer and feminist activist who died in 2020, he said he wanted the change implemented “within months”.

Legislation creating protest-free buffer zones around abortion clinics in Northern Ireland has received royal assent and become law. The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act was one of the last pieces of legislation approved by MLAs shortly before the Northern Ireland Assembly dissolved at the

English prosecutors have dropped a case against a 25-year-old woman accused of illegally procuring an abortion. The woman was reported to police after she underwent an emergency caesarean section 31 weeks into her pregnancy and was found to have evidence of abortion pills in her system.

The UK Supreme Court has cleared the way for the enactment of the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Northern Ireland) Bill after ruling it does not infringe on the right to freedom of assembly under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court found that placing limitations on wher

Legislation creating protest-free buffer zones around abortion clinics in Northern Ireland is compatible with European human rights laws, the UK Supreme Court has unanimously ruled. The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Bill was referred to the court in May by the Attorney General for Northern I

The UK government has formally commissioned abortion services in Northern Ireland after the continued failure of the devolved Department of Health to do so. Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris wrote to the Department following the UK government's announcement in October that it would step