Pro-abortion campaigners in Northern Ireland have won a legal appeal in a case they hope will make terminations more accessible to women in the province, whose laws are among the most restrictive in Europe.
Belfast's Court of Appeal ordered the Department of Health to draw up guidelines on when an abortion may be performed. The case was brought by the FPA charity, formerly known as the Family Planning Association.
The FPA appealed against a ruling made in July last year, when another judge rejected its argument that the province's abortion laws were unclear and needed clarification.
"We work with women who have a crisis pregnancy, and it was very clear to us the medical profession and the women don't know when they can have a termination and when they can't," FPA Northern Ireland director Audrey Simpson said.
Northern Ireland was excluded from the 1967 Abortion Act, which made Britain the first country in the world to legalise abortion, and politicians from both the Roman Catholic and Protestant communities have mostly opposed liberalising the law.
Terminations are only allowed in cases where the mother's life is at risk or there is a serious danger to her mental health or physical well-being. Between 1,000 and 2,000 women are estimated to travel to Britain each year to have abortions.
In the ruling, Lord Justice Nicholson said doctors were not adequately aware of the principles governing the law in Northern Ireland, but added the judgment should not be interpreted as a liberalisation of abortion rules.
The Irish Family Planning Association welcomed the ruling.
IFPA chief executive Mr Niall Behan said: "We welcome today's result and commend our colleagues in the FPA on their attempts to have clarified the current law.
"For too long women in the North have been denied medical treatment to which they may be legally entitled and this may be the first real step in rectifying this regrettable situation.
"Not until the Northern Ireland guidelines are clarified will we be able to comment on what this means for women in the South."
The IFPA said approximately 1500 women travel to England from Northern Ireland to terminate their pregnancies per year this figure is based on those who give Northern Irish addresses at the clinics which would suggest the actual figure is higher.