Abortion

Human rights campaigners have welcomed the reinstatement of early abortion services by Northern Ireland’s South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust. Earlier this month, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) launched legal action against the government over its failure to commis

Northern Ireland's human rights watchdog has launched legal action against the government over its failure to commission and fund abortion services. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission yesterday announced it had lodged judicial review proceedings in the High Court against the Secretary of S

The failings of Northern Ireland’s Department of Health are causing abortion provision to breakdown and are putting women in a vulnerable and dangerous position, Amnesty International and Informing Choices NI (ICNI) have said on the anniversary of abortion becoming decriminalised in Northern I

Northern Ireland's new abortion regime is too extensive because it covers "non-fatal disabilities", MLAs resolved yesterday after Stormont's first debate on the matter since the law was changed. Under The Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020, introduced by Westminster, there is no time limit

Abortion laws in Northern Ireland could be tightened again after the DUP and Sinn Féin indicated their opposition to parts of the regulations introduced earlier this year. Under The Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020, there is no time limit on abortion in the case of "severe foetal

Controversial proposals to tighten Poland's already-strict abortion laws have been effectively shelved by MPs. The bill, which was introduced under a citizen's initiative mechanism by the right-wing Life and Family Foundation, would have removed fatal foetal abnormality as a grounds for abortion.

New measures allowing women in England to take abortion pills at home during the coronavirus pandemic should be extended to Northern Ireland, campaigners have said. The Department of Health in England yesterday confirmed that it would press ahead with previously withdrawn plans to allow women in Eng

New regulations allowing for access to abortion in Northern Ireland on request in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy have been laid in Parliament. Abortion will also be available up to 24 weeks where continuing the pregnancy would risk injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or gi

Two midwives who were denied employment in Sweden because of their refusal to participate in abortions have had their application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) declared inadmissible. Ellinor Grimmark and Linda Steen, who were represented by Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers, wer

The prosecution of a woman who bought abortion pills for her teenage daughter did not breach human rights laws, the High Court in Belfast has ruled. The woman was charged with two counts of unlawfully procuring and supplying the abortion drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, with intent to procure a

The prosecution of a woman who bought abortion pills for her teenage daughter has been formally dropped following the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland yesterday. This morning, Belfast Crown Court formally discharged the mother from prosecution on two charges of unlawfully procuring

A last-ditch attempt to stop the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland by rushing a bill through Stormont in a single day has failed. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is opposed to abortion in all circumstances, attempted to introduce the Defence of the Unborn Child Bill 2019 y

An 158-year-old law criminalising abortion in Northern Ireland will be repealed at midnight tonight under a law passed by MPs this summer. Under section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Act 2019, sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 are repealed in Northern I

The UK Government has published guidance for healthcare professionals in Northern Ireland on abortion law changes which will come into effect later this month if devolution is not restored. Under section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill, secondary legislation providing for access

A woman who had to travel to England for a termination after being told that her unborn child had a fatal foetal abnormality has been successful in her challenge to Northern Ireland's abortion law. Following the UK Supreme Court’s ruling that the relevant legislation is incompatible with Artic