The UK government has announced that it intends to fund NHS-abortions for Northern Ireland women in Britain, ahead of a vote on the issue in the House of Commons.
The announcement, by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, came as the government faced a parliamentary defeat on the issue. 50 MPs from across the major parties backed a call for the women to have abortions free of charge in Britain, instead of being charged as they are now.
Unlike the rest of the UK, abortions in Northern Ireland are only permitted if a woman’s life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious risk to her mental or physical health. If a Northern Irish woman has an abortion in Britain, she has to pay several hundred pounds.
That policy was upheld by a case in the Supreme Court earlier this month.
However, the arrangement has come under scrutiny after the Prime Minister Theresa May agreed a £1bh deal with the 10 MPs from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to prop up her minority government. The DUP, which was established by the late Ian Paisley is opposed to abortion, same-sex marriage and homosexuality.
In a letter to MPs, the Equalities minister, Justine Greening said: “At present women from Northern Ireland are asked for payment and from now on it is our proposal that this will no longer happen. This is clearly a sensitive issue and one which has direct implications for equality in treatment of women from Northern Ireland.”
The details of how the funding will work have yet to be revealed.
In a separate development, three appeal court judges in Belfast ruled on Thursday that the responsibility for any changes to Northern Ireland’s strict anti-abortion laws rested with the devolved government at Stormont, and not the courts.
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