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Abortion: Mother not guilty of buying daughter pills

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Belfast Crown Court
Image caption,

A judge at Belfast Crown Court directed the jury to find the woman not guilty after changes were made to abortion laws

A woman has been found not guilty of buying abortion pills for her teenage daughter.

It follows a change in law which means that abortion is now decriminalised.

A jury at Belfast Crown Court was sworn in for 10 minutes and instructed by the judge to acquit the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

She said the law change "will allow other women and girls to deal with matters like this privately, in their own family circle".

The woman had been accused of two counts of procuring and supplying abortion drugs with intent to procure a miscarriage in 2013.

"My emotions are all over the place and I find it hard to put into words how I am feeling," she said, in a statement released through her solicitor.

"For the first time in six years, I can go back to being the mother I was, without the weight of this hanging over me every minute of every day and I can finally move on with my life."

The prosecution offered no evidence in the case.