Jeremy Hunt has the legal authority to grant women resident in Northern Ireland NHS-funded abortion care in England.

A Supreme Court appeal challenging the UK government’s refusal to provide NHS-funded abortion care in England for women resident in Northern Ireland but who travel to England narrowly failed last week.

The case was brought by a young woman, A, who in 2012, as a pregnant 15 year-old girl, travelled with her mother, B, from their home in Northern Ireland to Manchester for an abortion, at a cost of £900.