Abortion campaigners will today call on the Supreme Court in London to allow state funding for women from Northern Ireland who travel to England for terminations.

Northern Ireland is exempt from the 1967 Abortion Act under which the National Health Service (NHS) provides free abortions to women in the UK. 

Between 1,000 and 2,000 women from Northern Ireland are believed to travel to England for abortions each year but they have to find their own funding.

Last year, there were 16 legal abortions in Northern Ireland where they are permitted only when a woman's life is at risk or if there is a risk of permanent and serious damage to her mental or physical health.

Campaigners say that banning NHS abortions for women from Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, is discrimination that violates Articles 14 and eight of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, told Reuters: "It is simply unjust that women from Northern Ireland are forced to pay for healthcare that is provided free of charge to women resident in all other parts of the UK."

Political parties in Northern Ireland are divided on the issue.

The case is at the Supreme Court after being rejected by the Appeal Court last year, Irish News reported.

The applicant in the case, now 19, was herself just 15 when she went to Manchester in October 2012 with her mother and had to pay hundreds of pounds to have the abortion done privately. She is bringing the case with her mother.

Last November, Belfast High Court ruled the ban against abortions in Northern Ireland is "incompatible with human rights".