Northern Ireland abortion laws violate women's rights, U.N. body says

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Kingdom violates women's rights in Northern Ireland by unduly restricting their access to abortion, a report by the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women said on Friday.

“Denial of abortion and criminalisation of abortion amounts to discrimination against women because it is a denial of a service that only women need. And it puts women in horrific situations,” the committee's vice-chairwoman, Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, said in a statement.

(Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)