Karen Quinlivan QC, representing the woman and daughter, told the High Court in Belfast that she became pregnant following under-age sex with an abusive partner.

She will argue that compelling the daughter to continue with the pregnancy would have constituted inhuman treatment under the European Convention on Human Rights, and that prosecuting the mother for her alleged role in an illegal abortion violated those rights as well as the rights to privacy and family life.

The prosecution was previously described as a “grotesque spectacle” by Amnesty International.

Lawyers for the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) said they saw there was “simply no prospect of establishing inhuman treatment”.

Lord Justice Weatherup, sitting with Mrs Justice Keegan, granted leave to apply for judicial review and listed a full hearing in May.