Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether she will exercise her power under section 26(2) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to repeal sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 in order to comply with the UK's international obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The Government has no plans to amend the law on abortion in either England and Wales or Northern Ireland.

Abortion has always been a devolved matter in Northern Ireland. The Government's priority is therefore restoring devolved government, so that the people of Northern Ireland, and locally elected representatives, can decide what is right for Northern Ireland.