ABORTION fee exemptions for under-18s, full-time students, low-income households and victims of rape or incest have been written into Jersey law for the first time.
New regulations taking effect on 1 September will place the Island’s existing charges and exemptions on a statutory footing, providing “greater transparency and certainty” over who must pay.
Currently, abortions cost £185 for eligible Jersey residents and £511 for non-residents.
The Termination of Pregnancy (Fees) (Jersey) Order 2026 does not remove those charges, but formally establishes them in law following the major overhaul of the Island’s abortion legislation approved by the States in March.
Under the regulations, abortion services must be provided free of charge if the patient is under 18, receiving full-time education or living in a household receiving income support.
The £0 fee will also apply where the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest, as well as when a termination is carried out on specified medical grounds under the new law.
Previously, such exemptions were granted at a doctor’s discretion rather than being guaranteed through legislation.
Anyone who does not qualify for an exemption will pay £185 if they meet the criteria to be treated as a fully eligible patient under the government’s publicly funded healthcare policy. The fee will be £511 in any other case.
The regulations also allow the Health Minister to waive all or part of a fee when they consider it “fair and reasonable” after taking account of the individual circumstances.
Jersey’s new abortion law represents the most significant reform of the Island’s legislation in almost three decades.
Approved by politicians earlier this year, it allows terminations on request up to 21 weeks and six days and removes the previous requirement for a patient to demonstrate that they are “distressed”.
However, the decision to retain charges proved contentious. A clause keeping abortion as a paid-for service was approved by States Members by the narrowest possible margin of 22 votes to 21.
Assistant Health Minister Andy Howell said during the debate that the question of fees was likely to be reviewed by the next government.
