Experts have condemned the fact a 12-year-old rape victim in Northern Ireland was forced to travel to England under police escort for an abortion.

The child, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, could not be treated in Northern Ireland due to strict laws prohibiting the procedure in most circumstances.

Northern Ireland has a ban on abortions in almost all cases – even rape or incest. Abortion is only permitted when there is a risk to the life of the mother, or a serious risk to her physical or mental health.

Campaigners said making the child travel could have significantly worsened the trauma involved in undergoing the procedure.

Dawn Purvis, former director of the Marie Stopes pregnancy advice service in Belfast who made the case public last week, told MPs that an officer seized samples from the procedure as evidence.

Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Show all 8 1 /8 Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Campaigners intervene after police try to lead away one of the three women (centre with sunglasses) who publicly took an abortion pill during a demonstration outside Belfast's Crown and High Courts, where counter-demonstrations were held by both sides of the Northern Irish abortion argument. PA Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Police officers watch on from close by as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity hold a protest in Belfast Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Eleanor Crossey Malone takes an abortion pill as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Ruth Coppinger TD addresses the crowds outside Belfast's Crown and High Courts where counter-demonstrations were held by both sides of the Northen Irish abortion argument. PA Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Eleanor Crossey Malone displays an abortion pill packet after taking a pill Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Protestors dressed as hand maidens stand as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills from a touring bus Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills An unidentified woman takes an abortion pill as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills from a touring bus Getty Images Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills A robot drone delivers abortion pills as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills Getty

"The police had to go with her, they attended the surgical procedure to seize the evidence,” Ms Purvis said. "That is inhumane treatment of a young child who did not have a passport and had to leave the country.”

It is unclear when the incident happened, or whether the girl faced the possibility of any prosecution as a result.

Ms Purvis, a former Independent Unionist member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, appeared before the Commons Women and Equalities Committee during its hearing in Belfast on Northern Ireland's abortion law last week.

Nicola Moore, of UK abortion provider Marie Stopes, said the case was “extremely sad”.

She said: “It makes me angry that their draconian laws mean a child is forced to travel for something that they are a victim of. No children can choose to have sex. This is wrong. We condemn the fact this happens.”

Ms Moore, who leads the organisation's safeguarding work, said that it is classed as statutory rape when any child becomes pregnant under the age of 13.

“It is unnecessary it take the child away from their family and their local area and subject them to the unknown overseas,” she said. “It is bad enough having to have an abortion locally, let alone in another country where you might have never been before. You might have never even gone abroad before.”

She said the police could have accompanied her to obtain evidence to try and decipher who carried out the alleged rape.

She added: “It is likely they would have wanted to take away the products of conception – the foetus or the embryo - for forensic analysis to identify the person who raped the child to make a conviction against somebody.”

She said Marie Stopes come across 12-year-olds who access services – saying that they automatically identify the police and social services if girls come in who are under 13 because they know it will be a safeguarding issue.

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The 1967 Abortion Act, which established legal abortion, has never applied in Northern Ireland, but Theresa May has faced pressure to give MPs a free vote on the issue it was legalised in the Republic of Ireland last May.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) – the UK’s largest abortion provider – argued Northern Ireland’s abortion law imposes immense hardship on some of the country’s most vulnerable citizens.

“For all women and girls who have to travel to England for care, the process can be inhumane and degrading,” said spokesperson Katherine O'Brien. “We hear from those who have endured bleeding and cramping as they pass their pregnancy on the plane home.”

She added that others have to spend the night after the procedure alone in a hotel room - hundreds of miles away from their family and friends.

“Victims of domestic violence who are unable to travel face the incredibly cruel decision of whether to continue with an unwanted pregnancy conceived with their abuser or risk life imprisonment by using illegal abortion pills purchased online," she said. "This is no way to treat women in the twenty-first century.”

The spokesperson argued polling shows that the majority of people in Northern Ireland want abortion law reform, and they want Westminster to legislate.

Twelve abortions were carried out in Northern Ireland last year, official statistics show.