To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated annual cost of payments from public funds to private sector abortion clinics in England to carry out abortions for patients from Northern Ireland; whether, under equalities and anti-discrimination legislation, there is a requirement for a similar level of resources to be made available to women who choose not to end their pregnancies; what assessment they have made of the estimate by Both Lives Matter that over 100,000 people are alive in Northern Ireland today, who would not be alive had the Abortion Act 1967 been applied there; and what advice they have sought from Law Officers about the lawfulness and the ethics of seeking to disregard in one part of the UK the lawful provisions applicable in another part of the UK.
Answered on
7 November 2017
We estimate the cost of providing termination of pregnancy services in England to women from Northern Ireland to be in the region of £1 million per year. The provision of antenatal and maternity services in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter. The decision to provide such funding is separate from issues about support for other groups of pregnant women and there is no necessary connection between the two matters.
The Supreme Court in R (on the application of A and B) v Secretary of State for Health (2017) found that the Government has the power to fund abortion services in England for women lawfully resident from Northern Ireland.