Stormont’s Minister for Justice David Ford is to challenge a High Court ruling that abortion law in Northern Ireland is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
The North's Attorney General, John Larkin, has already formally started an appeal against the judgment.
In December, a judge ruled the current law does not comply with the European Convention on Human Rights in cases of fatal foetal abnormality or sexual crime.
The case had been brought by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.
At present, a termination is only permitted if a woman's life is at risk or if there is risk of permanent and serious damage to her mental or physical health.
Northern Ireland's current legislation differs from the rest of the UK.
Mr Ford says he has initiated the court action because he is concerned that what he called a lack of "legal certainty" could lead, inadvertently, to abortion on demand.
