Editor’s note. This comes from our friends at SPUC—the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. The Scottish First Minister is the head of the government. The NHS is the National Health Service.

Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she will consider giving Northern Irish women access to NHS abortions in Scotland.

The comments came during First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood [The Scottish Parliamentary building in Edinburgh] when Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie asked Ms. Sturgeon what could be done to ensure that Northern Irish women could access abortion in Scotland without facing “unacceptable financial barriers.”

Ms Sturgeon told the chamber: “I am happy to explore that with the NHS [National Health Service]. To explore both what the situation would be right now in terms of accessing safe and legal abortion for women from Northern Ireland within NHS Scotland and whether there’s any improvements that are able to be made.”

Responded, John Deighan, the Chief Executive of SPUC Scotland, “It is understandable that the First Minster will examine any issue presented to her. In this case I cannot envisage that she would wish to act contrary to the laws on abortion or to make efforts to undermine the laws of another country.”