A legal challenge against the Secretary of State and Stormont by a Northern Irish woman told to go to England to get an abortion will start later today.
The woman argues that she was put at risk by having to make the journey, despite abortion being legal in Northern Ireland at the time.
In a statement, the woman said that travelling to England during the pandemic to get an abortion would have put her at risk.
“Travelling to England would have put me at risk at a time when we were being urged not to travel,” she said.
“It would have left me having to explain why I was travelling to England at the time of the pandemic and needed time off work at short notice. I would have had to invent an excuse or refuse to give any reasons. I was not comfortable with doing either of those things.”
Instead, she was forced to opt for a home abortion, using pills she obtained online.
While the pills can be a safe option, there is also a risk that users can end up needing to contact a doctor, or go to A&E.
“I felt that I was left with no choice and (had) to take a risk I could have avoided,” she said. “I had not told my GP about my circumstances and arriving at A&E would have been awful.”
She is backed by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, which is taking Brandon Lewis, as well as the Northern Ireland Executive and the region’s Department of Health to the High Court for the case.
Chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Les Allamby said the legal action is to ensure access to abortion services.
Abortion laws in Northern Ireland were liberalised in 2019 following legislation passed by Westminster at a time when the power sharing government in the region was collapsed.
However while individual health trusts have been offering services on an ad-hoc basis, the regulations were brought forward as the Department of Health had yet to centrally commission the services on a region-wide basis.
Last month the House of Commons formally approved regulations which enable Mr Lewis to take action on rolling out abortion services in Northern Ireland.
