Full abortion services are to be formally set up in Northern Ireland, the Government has announced. Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has written to the Department of Health in NI to formally commission abortion services (Liam McBurney/PA)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. 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. “As Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, my officials at the Northern Ireland Office and I will continue to work with the Department of Health and healthcare professionals to ensure a range of abortion services become readily available across all health and social care trusts in the coming months.”The Northern Ireland Office said it remained the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive to fund the services. The statement added: “The department has been working closely with the Northern Ireland Office on the planned commissioning of abortion services in Northern Ireland.

Source: The Herald December 02, 2022 15:38 UTC