Grainne Teggart

Grainne Teggart, Amnesty’s Northern Ireland campaigns manager, said the UK government was “making progress for women in England [but] further isolating women in Northern Ireland who are again being left behind - still subjected to archaic and discriminatory abortion laws”.

By the end of the year, women in England ending a pregnancy in its first 10 weeks by taking the mifepristone and misoprostol pills will be allowed to take the second pill at home, rather than at a clinic.

The change will bring England into line with Scotland and Wales, where this is already allowed.

Meanwhile, the High Court in Belfast is set to hear a judicial review in late September from a woman who was prosecuted for helping her then 15-year-old daughter procure the pills online.

She is challenging the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPS) for bringing a case against her, supported by Amnesty, which is an intervenor in the case and is working with the mother and legal team to contest the prosecution.

A judge in Belfast, granting leave for the judicial review, said the case raises “issues of considerable public importance and public debate”.

Ms Teggart said: “This mother and her daughter are not criminals and the law shouldn’t treat them as such.

“Theresa May is cruelly neglecting the rights of girls and women in Northern Ireland. The abortion ban must be lifted so that all women in the UK have equal rights to free, safe and legal abortion.”