Information Note on the Court’s case-law 226
February 2019
A and B v. the United Kingdom (communicated case) - 80046/17
Article 14
Discrimination
Failure to provide abortion free of charge: communicated
In Northern Ireland abortion is only lawful in very narrow circumstances and many pregnant women ordinarily resident there travel to England in order to access abortion services. Prior to June 2017 women who did so were not entitled to obtain an abortion free of charge under the National Health Service (as women ordinarily resident in England were entitled to do) and instead had to attend private, fee-paying clinics. The applicants – a mother and daughter – argue that the failure to provide for the first applicant, a United Kingdom citizen resident in Northern Ireland, to have an abortion in England free of charge under the National Health Service breached their rights under Article 14 of the Convention read together with Article 8.
Communicated under Article 14 read together with Article 8 of the Convention.
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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