A & Anor, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for Health
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
- THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE KING
Areas of Law
- Health Law
- Human Rights Law
- Administrative Law
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The case involves a minor from NI and her mother challenging the NHS policy of not providing free abortion services in England. The court held that the NHS policy is lawful, and there is no duty to provide free abortion services to NI residents. The court also found no violation of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Judgment
Mr Justice King:
These proceedings came before me as a rolled up hearing. I grant permission and proceed to give judgment on the substantive claim.
This claim concerns the lawfulness of the extent of and limitations on the provision of abortion services by the National Heath Service (‘NHS’) in England to a person present in England but ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland. There are two claimants in this case: A, who is a minor, and B who is her mother. For ease of reading, A is referred to throughout as the claimant and B is referred to as her mother or litigation friend.
The claim does not however involve any challenge to the law of Northern Ireland on abortion or the extent of the provision of abortion services in Northern Ireland. The clamant does not seek to challenge the law of Northern Ireland as inadequate or contrary to her rights.
Nor does the claim involve a complaint that the claimant was not able to access abortion services in England as such. She was able to access such services, albeit they were those provided privately by an independent clinic, outside the NHS for a fee, and no obstacles were put in her way in this regard.
The real complaint here is that the claimant was unable to access in England abortion services free of charge.
The law on abortion as between the two jurisdictions
The law on abortion is stricter in Northern Ireland than it is in England and Wales. The Abortion Act 1967 (‘the 1967 Act’), which liberalised the position in England and Wales when enacted, was expressly not extended to Northern Ireland (see section 7(3)). The liberalisation in the 1967 Act took effect by specifying the circumstances in which a person was not to be guilty of an offence ‘under the law relating to abortion’ when a ‘pregnancy is terminated by a registered practitioner’. I accept the point emphasised by Mr Cragg QC on the part of the claimant that the key concept is termination by a registered practitioner. Section 1(1) of the 1967 Act provides as far is material:
‘(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a person shall not be guilty of an offence under the law relating to abortion when a pregnancy is terminated by a registered medical practitioner if two registered medical practitioners are of the opinion, formed in good faith -
(a) that the pregnancy has not exceeded its twenty-fourth week and that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the phys