The UK “fully supports” the right of women to access abortion, Downing Street has said.
It comes after reports the US Supreme Court is about to remove the right of people in the United States to legally have an abortion.
A document leaked to Politico has suggested the court is prepared to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision which granted the nationwide right.
Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said on Tuesday the decision was “a matter for the US courts”.
But added: “The UK fully supports women’s reproductive rights globally and including the right to access safe and legal abortion.”
The report came amid a legislative push to restrict abortion in several Republican-led states — Oklahoma being the most recent — even before the court issues its decision.
Critics of those measures have said low-income women will disproportionately bear the burden of new restrictions.
The leak jumpstarted the intense political reverberations that the court’s ultimate decision was expected to have in the midterm election year.
Already politicians on both sides of the aisle were seizing on the report to fundraise and energise their supporters on either side of the issue.
Until now, the court has allowed states to regulate but not ban abortion before the point of viability, around 24 weeks.