Abortion: Full NI service to be set up after delays

Abortion services were introduced in NI in 2020 but was only available on an ad hoc basis

A permanent abortion service is now being commissioned in Northern Ireland, the government has announced.

The move comes three years after MPs voted to change Northern Ireland's abortion laws while devolution was suspended.

Setting up full services has been held up due to political deadlock.

Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris said health trusts will now be able to recruit and train staff to support "sustainable services".

On Friday he said he had instructed Stormont's Department of Health to press ahead with setting up the service.

Earlier this year, his predecessor Brandon Lewis took powers allowing the government to intervene in this way.

Since March 2020, health and social care trusts have been allowed to carry out early medical abortions up to 10 weeks, but the service has been running on an ad hoc basis.

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The government said the formal commissioning would allow trusts to ensure "high quality services" are available across Northern Ireland.

Mr Heaton-Harris has also written to Stormont's party leaders informing them of the development.

He said his officials would continue to work with the Department of Health and the healthcare sector to ensure a range of services was in place in the coming months.

It could be early to mid-2023 before the service is fully up and running, and it will also need to be funded by Stormont's block grant.

Last week the government said funding for the current financial year would be ring-fenced within the Department of Health's budget.

The Department of Health said it acknowledged the legal requirements placed on it by the secretary of state and had been working closely with the Northern Ireland Office on the planned commissioning of abortion services in Northern Ireland.

It added: "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."

How did we get here?

In 2019, MPs passed legislation to decriminalise abortion.

Abortion is a devolved matter, but at that time devolution in Northern Ireland was suspended due to a political row.

The legislation passed by Westminster also put the onus on the government to draw up a new framework for abortions to be carried out in Northern Ireland in a range of circumstances

Those laws came into force in March 2020, after the executive had been restored.

But the parties disagreed on the commissioning of a full service, with the Democratic Unionist Party using its veto to block the matter.

Then-Health Minister Robin Swann of the Ulster Unionist Party also said he could not commission the service himself, as the matter was controversial and cross-cutting, meaning it required approval from the entire executive.