A LEGAL challenge brought by a teenage girl and her mother for Northern Ireland women to receive free NHS abortions in England has been rejected by the Supreme Court.
The 15-year-old girl at the centre of the case travelled with her mother from the north to a private clinic in Manchester five years ago to have a termination at a cost of £900.
They lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court after an earlier high court battle failed, arguing that the ban on Northern Ireland women having access to NHS funded terminations was unlawful given they were UK residents and taxpayers.
Yesterday's ruling was by majority, with three judges voting against the appeal but two supporting the teenager's case.
The development came as new figures show more than 700 women travelled to Britain from the north last year for abortions.
The Surpreme court ruling stated that the British health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, held the legal authority to grant women resident in Northern Ireland NHS-funded abortion care in England. Mr Hunt has refused to lift the ban, not due to financial constraints, but out of "respect" for the democratic decisions of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The DUP, which holds the majority in the Assembly, has repeatedly blocked any attempts to relax the north's restrictive abortion laws which only allow terminations where the woman's life is at risk.
In 2013, former DUP health minister Edwin Poots reinforced existing guidelines on pregnant women seeking abortions, even in circumstances of fatal foetal abnormalities. Doctors said the move created a "culture of fear" among those working in maternity care, with jail time threatened for those who acted outside government guidelines.
At yesterday's hearing, the Supreme court judges expressed a profound sympathy for the "plight" of women in Northern Ireland facing an unplanned pregnancy.
Lord Wilson, who did not rule in favour of the appeal, stated that the "embarrassment, difficulty, and uncertainty attendant on the urgent need to raise the necessary funds" added significantly to the mother and daughter's "emotional strain".
Two judges, Lord Kerr and Lady Hale, supported the appeal on the grounds that allowing an unwanted pregnancy to continue carries a risk of physical or mental injury - and that risk should not just apply to English women.
They also stated that allowing women to access free NHS abortions would not change the democracy of the Assembly as it had expressed no views on allowing women to travel to England for terminations. They also said it would not interfere with the north's current medical services.
Pro-life group Precious Life welcomed the ruling, saying current laws in Northern Ireland "protect both mother and child".
However, Amnesty International described the ruling as a "further blow" to women in the north who "face the harshest abortion laws in Europe".
"This ruling means that women and girls from Northern Ireland will continue to be treated as second class citizens. As ever, it is the most marginalised women who will be worst affected," said Grainne Teggart, Amnesty NI manager.
