A woman has appeared in court in Belfast charged with using a poison to procure her own abortion.

The 21-year-old from Co Down, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was ordered to stand trial at Belfast Crown Court and was released on bail.

Ellen Coyne is a journalist with the Ireland edition of The Times.

She says the woman is facing two charges.

"The first one is relating to unlawfully administering to herself a noxious substance - that refers to the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol, which will sound familiar because of course we've heard reports about women in the Republic ordering similar pills online" she told the Pat Kenny Show here on Newstalk.

"The second charge she is also accused of supplying or procuring a poison, knowing that it was to be used for the intentions of a miscarriage".

"So that basically means self-administering her own abortion" she added.