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Access to abortion has been available in Northern Ireland since April 2020
By Elaine McGee
BBC Radio Foyle
The Western Trust has apologised again after further delays in restarting early abortion services.
Services were suspended at the trust's early medical abortion clinic in April 2021 due to "staffing resourcing issues".
It had been previously understood that services were due to recommence services in July of this year.
Now, the trust said, it was working towards recommencing the early medical abortion clinic later this month.
"We apologise that this service has not been in place within the Western Trust for the past year," a trust spokeswoman said.
"The trust continues to work collaboratively with the necessary stakeholders to get this service in place with the appropriate support as soon as possible."
The Western Trust has apologised for the suspension of the service
Abortion laws in Northern Ireland changed in 2020 after the UK government acted during the absence of a functioning Stormont assembly.
But services are largely limited to early medical terminations up to 10 weeks of pregnancy.
What is an early medical abortion?
- Medical abortion involves pills, not a surgical procedure, according to the NHS
- You can have a medical abortion if you are less than 10 weeks pregnant
- It involves taking two different medicines to end a pregnancy
- The medicines are prescribed by a hospital or clinic, and you usually take them one or two days apart
- It does not need surgery or an anaesthetic
Those seeking abortion services not yet provided by health trusts in Northern Ireland can access services in Great Britain through arrangements funded by the Department of Health.
In May, the then Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis instructed the Department of Health to begin the process of setting up a fully-funded abortion service for Northern Ireland.
When services were suspended in 2021 in the Western Trust area - which includes Londonderry, Strabane, Limavady, Omagh and Enniskillen - the trust was initially advising women to contact the British Pregnancy Advisory Service if they were less than 10 weeks pregnant.
Since April of this year, women within the Western Trust were advised that the early medical abortion service was available to them in neighbouring health trusts.
"Patients wishing to avail of information on available services are signposted via the trust website and will be referred to either the Northern Trust or the Southern Trust depending on their postcode," the Western trust spokeswoman said.
The Department of Health said the Western Trust was "currently finalising plans to recommence its EMA service in October 2022".
The department said it continued to "engage with the Northern Ireland Office and with NI Health and Social Care Trusts to ensure operational readiness to provide commissioned abortion services".
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