A woman accused of obtaining abortion pills for her teenage daughter is in "fear and pain" over her pending prosecution.
Today a legal challenge into the decision to take action against her was adjourned at the High Court in Belfast after Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan said it was a complex matter and required time to read.
The woman has taken a judicial review of the decision to prosecute her.
The case was delayed because prosecutors have not made a formal submission to the court on certain human rights implications of the case following a recent Supreme Court ruling.
Lord Chief Justice Morgan said: "Dealing with the case in the absence of understanding the PPS response to the Supreme Court would be entirely inappropriate. We are going to take the case out today."
He directed that the Public Prosecution Service give its response within two weeks.
Unlike other parts of the UK, the 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland.
The procedure is illegal except where a woman's life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious danger to her mental or physical health.
The woman at the centre of the case cannot be named for legal reasons.
She said: "(The prosecution and looming judgment) is there at every important moment of my and my children's lives - just hanging over me.
"The fear and pain of it all. I feel like I am not allowed to move on."
The mother's solicitor Jemma Conlon read out a statement outside Belfast High Court ahead of the case starting this afternoon.
"My client is a devoted mother who, along with her daughter, has had to constantly relieve a traumatic and private family matter under the weight of this prosecution," she said.
"This has caused them immense distress and anguish which has been constant over the past five years.
"To prosecute my client not only amounts to a breach of her human rights, but it criminalises a mother for helping her daughter in a harrowing situation.
"An innocent family has effectively been punished for being open and honest with medical practitioners and police.
"We hope the court will take the view that the prosecution of my client is wrong and contrary to their human rights.
"We want them to be allowed to move on with their lives in the privacy of their own family unit."
Anti-abortion activists also gathered outside court ahead of the hearing.
Bernie Smyth, from campaign group Precious Life, said: "The importance of this case is to send a very clear message out to the people in Northern Ireland, to women in Northern Ireland who would feel maybe their only option is to purchase very dangerous illegal abortion pills and we are saying there is another way.
"It is vitally important that we uphold the law here in Northern Ireland.
"The law is in place to protect people and the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act (law that criminalises abortion in the region) is a very, very important law for us at this time in Northern Ireland because it protects life from the moment of conception.
"So, our message is clear - our laws matter because every life matters - the life of the mother and the life of the unborn child."
In June, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission lost a Supreme Court appeal over the legality of Northern Ireland's restrictive law.
A majority of judges said it was incompatible with human rights law in cases of fatal foetal abnormality and sexual crime.
The mother is judicially reviewing in the civil courts the decision to prosecute her over allegations she obtained abortifacient medication for her 15-year-old daughter who was pregnant.
The case is known as JR76.
She said she has been put through "five years of agony" and explained how "painful" it has been to have the prosecution hanging over her head "every single day of my life... I try for the sake of my family to keep my head above water".
She has been "struggling with anxiety", has lost all trust in doctors and no longer uses their services.
She is supported by Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission and the case will be heard over two days.
Grainne Teggart, a campaigner at Amnesty International, said the experience has been devastating for the woman and her family.
"If she was from any other part of the UK where safe and legal abortion pills are easily accessible, her family wouldn't be facing this traumatic ordeal," she said.
"The judges must see that this is such obvious unfair cruelty. They now have the power to not only give this woman her life back, but to give hope to all women and girls living in Northern Ireland."
Chief Commissioner Les Allamby said it was an "extremely important case".
He added: "The Commission is arguing that the court in Belfast should follow the judgment of the Supreme Court when coming to its decision in this case."
