At some point in the future, these past two weeks may come to be seen as a tipping point, the moment when the drive to ease the draconian restrictions on abortion in Northern Ireland became an unstoppable force.

Pro-choice groups may have lost this particular battle but they are “winning the war”, said Liberty, the human rights organisation, after Thursday’s supreme court judgment.

The “clear opinion” expressed by the supreme court – that Northern Ireland’s prohibition on abortion even in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, rape and incest is in breach of the European convention on human rights – will not immediately lead to change. Theresa May is likely to repeat her mantra that abortion is a devolved matter. The Northern Ireland assembly has not sat for 17 months.



But the momentum for change will gather strength from the complicated judgment, which comes two days after forceful arguments for reform were presented in a House of Commons emergency debate, and less than two weeks after the Irish Republic voted by a landslide to repeal its constitutional protection of the unborn.



Although the supreme court said it had no jurisdiction to consider the latest legal challenge because there was no actual or potential victim of an unlawful act involved in the case, pro-choice campaigners welcomed the call by a majority of its judges for “radical reconsideration” of Northern Ireland’s current abortion regime, and said the case for action was incontrovertible.

Corey Stoughton, Liberty’s advocacy director, said: “Today’s ruling leaves the UK government out of excuses. While the case was dismissed, women’s groups may have lost the battle but they are winning the war. Westminster must act now to decriminalise abortion across the United Kingdom and grant basic bodily autonomy to the women of Northern Ireland.”

Rosa Curling, a solicitor with Leigh Day, representing a coalition of pro-choice organisations, said there were “no longer any excuses” to deny women in Northern Ireland the same rights granted to women elsewhere in the UK.



Grainne Teggart, of Amnesty International, said the court’s opinion was “hugely significant. [It] makes clear there is nowhere left for the government to hide on this issue.



“All eyes are now on the UK government. Theresa May can no longer sit back and do nothing whilst countless women continue to suffer on her watch. The prime minister must commit to reforming abortion law immediately or be complicit in the harm and inequality caused by the existing law. A failure to act would be a cruel betrayal of women.”



Writing for the Guardian, Rebecca Schiller, of Birthrights, said: “Coming so swiftly behind the success of the neighbouring Repeal the 8th campaign and amplifying the call for action on Northern Irish abortion reform in [Tuesday’s] parliamentary emergency debate, this judgment is another powerful fragment of hope and proof that finally women’s stories are being listened to and really heard.”

Andrew Copson, of Humanists UK, said the ruling sent “a very strong, clear message to the UK government. It cannot wait for the Northern Ireland assembly to reconvene and potentially act. It must now act itself.”



After the unexpectedly strong vote for change in the Irish referendum on 25 May, attention immediately focused on Northern Ireland, with demands from grassroots campaigners and politicians for a liberalisation of the law.



The senior Tory MPs Maria Miller, Amber Rudd and Justine Greening met the prime minister on Monday to argue for change in Northern Ireland, warning May of growing Tory support for a referendum or for extending UK law to Northern Ireland.



After Tuesday’s highly charged emergency debate in the Commons, Penny Mordaunt, the equalities minister, urged Northern Ireland’s politicians to take action to reform abortion law or risk Westminster stepping in. “If you don’t, we will. #trustwomen,” she tweeted.



Damian Green, a close ally of May and former deputy prime minister, also predicted that Westminster would soon step in to liberalise abortion law in Northern Ireland if devolution was not restored. Northern Ireland was “out of step” with the rest of Ireland and the UK on abortion law, he told the Catholic website the Tablet.

