MPs sign new NI abortion motion

Thirteen MPs have signed the new motion

The government is coming under more pressure to change the abortion laws in Northern Ireland.

Thirteen MPs, led by Labour's Diane Abbott, have signed a Commons motion calling for legal abortion for women across the United Kingdom.

It also calls for the government to provide funding for women in Northern Ireland to access NHS abortion services in Great Britain.

An attempt to extend abortion laws to Northern Ireland failed this month.

The motion says that the extension attempt, using the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill to extend the 1967 Abortion Act, was "not necessarily the most appropriate way to amend the law".

Abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland except in exceptional medical circumstances, such as when the mother's health is at risk.