The MHK who masterminded abortion law reform says he is confident it will finally become law soon.

The Abortion Reform Bill, which will relax the island’s current rules, has been waiting for royal assent - which means it can become law - but has suffered delays in the United Kingdom.

But Ramsey MHK Dr Alex Allinson said: ’I am confident that the bill will be granted royal assent in the next few weeks.’

Once royal assent is granted the Council of Ministers can set a date for it to become law.

Dr Allinson added: ’I apologise for the delay in getting this legislation operational so that women on the Isle of Man have easy access to impartial counselling and safe abortion services through our NHS.

’I am hopeful that once royal assent is granted the Council of Ministers can act promptly and the DHSC can move forward to set up a really innovative service to provide essential reproductive healthcare for women of this island, on this island.’

The Isle of Man law needs to comply with human rights rules and it has been suggested the workload caused for UK legislators by Brexit may have contributed to the delay.

Dr Allinson said: ’There has been a lot of activity behind the scenes over the last few weeks regarding the Abortion Reform Bill.

’It was very important that the (UK) Ministry of Justice was satisfied that it complied fully with the European Convention on Human Rights.’

He added: ’There have been several recent court cases brought by anti-abortion organisations that employed barristers to try and use complex legal arguments to halt reform.

’The staff at the Attorney General’s office have been very helpful in liaising with London to ensure royal assent is granted for a bill which has already received so much scrutiny and been subject to such rigorous debate.’

Dr Allinson’s bill completed its process through the branches of Tynwald in November. It is far and away the most closely scrutinised and debated piece of Manx legislation in recent history.

When the bill becomes law, abortion will be permitted upon request up to 14 weeks, under specified circumstances including ’serious social grounds’ during the 15-24-week period, and in certain emergency or serious situations after 24 weeks.

Provision has also been included to create ’access zones’ around medical centres to protect women and medics from harassment.

Under the law as it stands, termination is legal up to 24 weeks where medical practitioners consider there is substantial risk the child will not survive birth, will die shortly afterwards or will be seriously handicapped.

Pregnancies resulting from rape, incest or sexual assault may be terminated up to 12 weeks, but women must provide an affidavit attesting to the cause of the pregnancy. Terminations on social grounds are not allowed.

When royal assent is granted, further work needs to be done to be ready for a new regime, including ensuring sufficient counselling is in place and introducing regulations.

Dr Allinson said: ’Abortion counselling is already available through the Family Planning Clinic but this may need to be expanded.’

Regulations must be also made requiring medical practitioners to record the reasons and circumstances of a termination of pregnancy and to set up the procedure for establishing the access zones.

’The department are aware of the need for these regulations and have already started preparing them,’ said Dr Allinson.