Visiting academics gave a presentation to Tynwald members on abortion law reform.

Dr Claire Pierson and Dr Deirdre Duffy from Manchester Metropolitan University and Dr Fiona Bloomer from Ulster University had been invited to the island by Ramsey MHK Dr Alex Allinson.

Dr Allinson is drawing up a private member’s bill to reform what he describes as the island’s ’outdated’ abortion law.

Dr Pierson and Dr Bloomer are the joint authors of a report that considered abortion law in Northern Ireland. But they believe there are many parallels with the Isle of Man.

Their report follows a 2015 High Court judicial review decision which deemed the current legal framework governing abortion in the province as incompatible with human rights.

On average 1,075 women from Northern Ireland travel to England each year to have an abortion with costs ranging from £600 to £2,000.

An unknown number self-abort at home having acquired the abortion pill from internet providers.

Among the case studies cited was a 13-year-old child who became pregnant as a result of family sexual abuse but had to travel outside Northern Ireland for an abortion as she was beyond nine weeks and four days.

The report concludes that the experience of healthcare professionals and thorough knowledge of practice on the ground must underpin any reform.

And it says that pathways for abortion care and aftercare must be created as a ’matter of urgency’ as women and families continue to receive inadequate care in this area.

Dr Allinson believes the 1995 Act that legalised abortion is ’unjust and unfair’ and was designed to protect medical professionals from prosecution - at the expense of pregnant women’s healthcare.

Terminations are allowed only up to 24 weeks where it is necessary to preserve the woman’s life, the foetus is unlikely to survive or is seriously handicapped, or within 12 weeks of conception if the pregnancy is caused by rape, incest or indecent assault.

Only a single figure number of terminations are carried out in the island each year under the 1995 Act and women are faced with the choice of continuing an unwanted pregnancy or travelling to the UK for a termination at a private clinic at a cost of between £500 and £1,700 plus travel costs.

Dr Allinson says that is the situation faced by an estimated 105 Manx women each year.

The three academics had talks with the Campaign for Abortion Law Modernisation.