Full abortion services to be commissioned in Northern Ireland after Secretary of State announcement

Full abortion services are still not available in Northern Ireland, despite the laws surrounding abortion being liberalised in 2019. Credit: PA Archive/PA Images

Full abortion services are to be formally set up in Northern Ireland, the Government has announced.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said he had written to the Department of Health in the region to commission the services in line with his statutory obligations.

He said he anticipated services becoming available in the coming months.

Northern Ireland’s abortion laws were liberalised in 2019 following legislation passed by Westminster at a time when the power sharing government at Stormont had collapsed.

While individual health trusts have offered limited services on an ad-hoc basis since then, Northern Ireland’s Department of Health never centrally commissioned the rollout of full services due to a political impasse at Stormont.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has written to the Department of Health in NI to formally commission abortion services Credit: Liam McBurney/PA

In May 2021, the Government intervened and laid regulations at Parliament that removed the need for the Department of Health to seek the approval of the wider executive to commission the services.

It also gave the Secretary of State the power to step in and commission the services himself if the devolved health minister failed to do so.

Mr Heaton-Harris said the formal commissioning would enable health and social care trusts to recruit and train staff in the coming months.

He said: “The UK Government is steadfast in its commitment to ensuring women of Northern Ireland have access to safe, high-quality and local abortion services.

In a statement the department of health said it acknowledged the “legal requirements placed on it”.

The statement added: “The department has been working closely with the Northern Ireland Office on the planned commissioning of abortion services in Northern Ireland.

“Today’s legal instruction on commissioning and the ringfencing of funding will mean that HSC Trusts will have the necessary resources to ensure a full range of abortion services will be available in NI, including putting in place the necessary staffing and training required.”

Health is a devolved issue in Northern Ireland, but NI is currently without a health minister as the Stormont power sharing institutions are not in operation after the DUP withdrew support as part of a protest against the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol.

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