On 29 June, the Court of Appeal in Belfast ruled that Northern Ireland’s laws on abortion are not incompatible with human rights.
This was the unanimous decision of all three judges. The judgment was the result of an appeal brought by the Northern Ireland Department of Justice and the Attorney General in response to a 2015 judgment that stated that Northern Ireland’s abortion laws were not human-rights compliant. This judgment ensured that changes to the abortion law in Northern Ireland were for the elected Assembly to decide, and not the judiciary.
However, the UK Government announced, as part of a concession to pass the Queen’s Speech through Parliament, that women from Northern Ireland could have an abortion free of charge in England.
