Chelsea Clinton has described feeling “full of incandescent rage” following the Supreme Court ruling on abortion rights in the United States.

The US Supreme Court last week ended constitutional protections for abortion that have been in place for nearly 50 years by deciding to overturn the landmark Roe v Wade ruling.

Anti-abortion campaigners have hailed the move, while the pro-choice lobby have opposed it.

US President Joe Biden described it as “a tragic error” and urged states to enact laws to allow the procedure.

On Wednesday evening there was applause at an Our Place In Space event at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast as Ms Chelsea described her anger.

“I am full of incandescent rage on a cellular level,” she told the event.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this angry for this sustained period of time.

“I’m not really an angry person, even when I get very upset, it is almost immediately just a catalyst for action. I think that’s how I have processed my experiences and my witnessing of injustice historically.

“I have not really been able to process in the last few days because of the enormous harm that we know will now befall women and girls in America. It’s not hypothetical, it is here and it will happen, it is happening.

“I am of course pushing toward action, the push towards action though hasn’t ameliorated the anger in the way that historically I seem to process things.”

The daughter of former US president Bill Clinton described it as “unconscionable and unforgiveable and unacceptable”.

“We have to commit every day to change it,” she said.

“I am angry, I am worried and I’m going to do everything I can to try to mitigate harm and quickly hasten the arrival of a different future where we do better protect the lives of women and girls and better protect every American’s right privacy.”