Britain’s Supreme Court said that Northern Ireland’s abortion laws are incompatible with human rights legislation but can’t force change

Britain’s Supreme Court expressed the view on Thursday that Northern Ireland’s strict abortion law was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, but added it did not have the powers to make a formal declaration that the law should be changed.

Abortion rights activists called the court’s ruling on the law’s incompatibility a “landmark decision” that would put pressure on the British government to act, while anti-abortion groups emphasised there was no requirement to do so.

In his judgment Lord Mance is clear that the present law in Northern Ireland, “treats the pregnant woman as a vehicle who must be expected to carry a foetus to birth, whatever the other circumstances, and whatever her wishes”.