This week, the Belfast High Court ruled that Northern Ireland’s abortion law is incompatible with human rights. By not allowing for exceptions where the child has a ‘fatal foetal abnormality’ (FFA), or where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, the current law breaches the European Convention on Human Rights. Under Northern Ireland’s existing legal framework, abortion is permitted when the mother’s life is endangered by the pregnancy. Earlier this year, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission applied for a judicial review of the legislation. In his ruling on the case, the judge said that it was ‘illegitimate and disproportionate’ to ban abortion of unborn children with a FFA as they are ‘incapable of existence independent of the mother’s womb’. He also said that not allowing a victim of rape or incest to abort ‘completely ignores the personal circumstances of the mother’.