The North's Family Planning Association is mounting a legal fight to try to win Northern Ireland women the same access to abortion as women in Britain, it announced today.
If successful it could lead to a change in Northern law and halt the journeys by thousands of women for an abortion in Britain.
In the High Court in Belfast the Family Planning Association Northern Ireland (fpaNI) will seek leave to apply for a judicial review of the current state of medical practice on the provision of services to women in the North who want an abortion.
The director of fpaNI Ms Audrey Simpson said it was asking the courts "to advise the Department of Health, Social Service and Public Safety that it is their duty to ensure that all women in Northern Ireland have equal access to reproductive healthcare services".
She added: "This is a major step, as it is the first time that such an action has been taken."
Although the 1967 Abortion Act does not apply to Northern Ireland it is accepted by the DHSSPS that abortion is legal in certain circumstances.
But the fpaNI said there was a lack of clarity around the circumstances in which an abortion could be carried out and that resulted in "confusing and inconsistent medical practice".
The DHSSPS had confirmed that no departmental guidance on the provision of abortion had been issued, yet statistics revealed there had been more than 70 performed in Northern Ireland in 1999.
PA