A report published just a month after the happy uproar in the Castle courtyard – produced by ARK, the North’s social policy hub, and financed by the Economic and Social Research Council – examined levels of support for liberalising abortion as indicated in the most recent figures from the NI Life and Times survey.

At present, abortion is permitted in the North only when a woman’s life is in danger or there is serious risk of long-term or permanent damage to her health. Rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality do not provide grounds for termination.

When there was a chance of the woman dying, the figures were: 96 per cent of Alliance supporters; 90 per cent of UUP supporters; 81 per cent of DUP supporters; 79 per cent of SF supporters; and 74 per cent of SDLP supporters.