Richard Norton-Taylor (Letters, 22 November) misses a further example of Northern Ireland’s exceptionalism. Thousands of Northern Irish women have faced discrimination, trauma and financial penalties when seeking an abortion because of the province’s anomalous exemption from UK law. A 10-minute rule bill, tabled for this Friday night by Labour’s Diana Johnson and the Conservatives’ Nicky Morgan, proposes the extension of the 1967 Abortion Act to this remaining part of our nation. The choice for the province is either to accept its status as an integral part of the UK and accept this act, or to accept the law that allows abortion on demand up to 12 weeks and medically supervised abortion thereafter which the Irish Republic has enacted after its recent referendum. It is high time for this tiny enclave to enter the 21st century.
Mary Pimm
London
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