Analysis: A ruling on the North's abortion law has left groups as divided as ever, writes Suzanne Breen.
Abortion is the one non-sectarian issue in the North which rivals Orange marches, decommissioning and paramilitary attacks in terms of arousing passion.
Anti-abortion activists had a strong presence outside Belfast High Court yesterday when the decision on a judicial review on Northern Ireland abortion law was announced.
The two-day courtroom battle took place last March. Mr Justice Kerr spent 16 months making his judgement. The application had been made by the Family Planning Association (FPA). It wanted the court to order the North's Department of Health to publish clear guidelines for doctors on when they can legally carry out abortions.
Abortion in Northern Ireland is legal to save the woman's life. The status of all other abortions remains a grey area. They are sometimes available if the woman has a serious medical or psychological problem which would jeopardise her life or health if pregnancy continued, if she is mentally disabled or has been raped, or in cases of foetal disability.
But the FPA argued much depended on finding a sympathetic doctor, and medical attitudes varied according to post-code. Every year at least 1,600 Northern Irish women travel to England for an abortion at a private clinic, according to the FPA.
In the Republic, as in the North, abortion is illegal under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act. However, in the X case the Supreme Court ruled that it was permissible if there was a threat to the life, as opposed to the health, of the mother. However, abortion has not been legislated for in the Republic.
Mr Justice Kerr dismissed the FPA's application in Belfast yesterday. He accepted the Department of Health was under no obligation to publish guidelines when doctors can legally carry out abortion, but invited it to consider doing so to end the current confusion.
FPA director Ms Audrey Simpson welcomed "elements" of the ruling. "We will be writing to the Department of Health to urge it to issue guidelines as the judge advised.
"We also note the judge listened to the women's stories recounted in court. He said the current legal position could create a harrowing situation for some women, and was a formidable argument for a change in the law."
Other pro-choice groups and anti-abortion organisations interpreted the ruling differently.
Ms Betty Gibson, of SPUC, said an attempt to make abortion more widely available had failed.
Mr Justin Barrett, of the Mother and Child Campaign, said Mr Justice Kerr had noted that only four of 8,000 abortions carried out on Northern Irish women in Britain over a five-year period could legally have taken place in the North.
Ms Bernadette Smyth, of Precious Life, said it was a "major victory" for campaigners for "unborn babies". Except when a woman's life was in danger, there was now no clear legal right to abortion in the North, even in cases of rape. "We are greatly encouraged by this decision. We will continue our campaign to defend the right to life with zeal."
Ms Goretti Horgan, of the pro-choice group Alliance for Choice, said: "We are very disappointed that even women who are pregnant as a result of rape or incest do not have an automatic right to abortion here.
"We are regularly told post-ceasefire Northern Ireland offers a historic opportunity to create a new political agenda but in reality it's nothing but the same old right-wing, reactionary story."
The stance of local political parties was "disgraceful", with only the Women's Coalition and Progressive Unionist Party supporting the extension of the 1967 British Abortion Act to the North.