Poland – How to Maneuver Around Acknowledging the Right to Access Abortion

Some Thoughts on the ECtHR’s judgment in M.L. v Poland

Written by Sissy Katsoni
January 11, 2024

On 14 December 2023, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, Court) issued its much-awaited judgment in M.L. v Poland, i.e. in one of the approximately 1000 applications submitted before it regarding the Polish restrictive abortion policy. The application concerned the alleged violation of the applicant’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as she had to travel abroad to a private clinic to terminate her pregnancy despite carrying a foetus that was diagnosed with Trisomy 21. This barrier was a result of the legislative amendments that were introduced by the Polish Constitutional Court’s judgment of 22 October 2020, which effectively banned access to abortion even in cases of foetal abnormalities. This blog post seeks to highlight the shortcomings of the judgment against the background of other human rights bodies’ jurisprudence, and to criticise the Court’s manoeuvring around the explicit acknowledgement and stronger protection of abortion rights under the ECHR.

Continued: https://www.ejiltalk.org/how-to-maneuver-around-acknowledging-the-right-to-access-abortion-some-thoughts-on-the-ecthrs-judgment-in-m-l-v-poland/

Poland abortion ban victim’s family says ‘nobody cared about her life’

By Isabel da Silva
Updated: 18/11/2022

The family of a Polish woman that died due to Poland's restrictive rules on abortion have spoken out about her ordeal.

Izabela Sajbor, 30, died of septic shock last year when she was 22 weeks pregnant.

Thousands took to the streets to protest the victim of the country's near-total abortion ban, which was approved in October 2020.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/11/17/nobody-cared-about-her-life-family-of-polish-abortion-ban-victim-speak-out

By Isabel da Silva
Updated: 18/11/2022

The family of a Polish woman that died due to Poland's restrictive rules on abortion have spoken out about her ordeal.

Izabela Sajbor, 30, died of septic shock last year when she was 22 weeks pregnant.

Thousands took to the streets to protest the victim of the country's near-total abortion ban, which was approved in October 2020.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/11/17/nobody-cared-about-her-life-family-of-polish-abortion-ban-victim-speak-out

‘Declare it to a doctor, and it’s over’: Ukrainian women face harsh reality of Poland’s abortion laws

Women turn to aid groups for help, with many unaware their rights to reproductive healthcare have vanished upon crossing the border

Weronika Strzyżyńska
Tue 10 May 2022

When the first Russian bombs fell on Ukraine, Myroslava Marchenko was a gynaecologist at a private clinic in Kyiv. The next day, one of her patients was due to have an abortion after prenatal tests showed a high chance of Down’s syndrome.

Instead, like millions across the country, Marchenko and her patient fled to safety, crossing the border into Poland where abortions due to foetal abnormalities – or “on eugenic grounds” in the language of the country’s constitutional tribunal – are illegal.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/may/10/ukrainian-women-face-harsh-reality-poland-abortion-laws

San Marino’s abortion referendum reveals social fissures

Arguments flare in the tiny, extremely conservative nation ahead of a vote on finally legalising abortion

Angela Giuffrida, Rome correspondent

Fri 17 Sep 2021

It didn’t take long for the debate in San Marino to turn toxic. Soon after
campaigning in the lead-up to a referendum on legalising abortion officially
got under way, the walls of the tiny country, landlocked within central Italy,
were slapped with posters from anti-abortion activists featuring a child with
Down’s syndrome. The caption read: “I’m an anomaly, does that mean I have fewer
rights than you?”

Other posters featured the image of a foetus alongside the message: “I’m a
child even at 12 weeks, save me!”

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/17/san-marinos-abortion-referendum-reveals-social-fissures

The mental health cost of Poland’s abortion ban

Seven months after severe restrictions against abortion came into effect, women are struggling with the emotional toll of the near-total ban.

by Ylenia Gostoli
22 Aug 2021

When Dominika Biernat took to the streets last October, joining the huge public protests against Poland’s near-total ban on abortion, little did she know that in a few months she would become one of its victims.

A single woman and a successful actress with
one of Warsaw’s most renowned theatre companies, her pregnancy was not planned.
But the father was a good friend and when she found out, the 39-year-old
thought it could be one of her last chances to become a mother.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/8/22/the-mental-health-costs-of-polands-abortion-ban

22.08.2021

Commentary

Featured

Abortion Network Amsterdam

All-Poland Women's Strike

anti-choice misogyny

Catholic Church

conscientious objection

Dominika Biernat

Dr Maciej Socha

European Court of Human Rights

European Parliament

European Parliamentary Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights

FEDERA

Federation of Women and Family Planning

Law and Justice party

Milena Kwiatkowska

Neil Datta

omphalocele

Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture

Ordo Iuris International Law Center

Poland Constitutional Tribunal

severe fetal abnormality

travelling for abortion

Polish women’s groups work to circumvent new abortion regime

October’s court ruling outlaws abortions even in the case of foetal abnormalities

May 8, 2021
Derek Scally in Berlin

Justyna Wydrzynska draws an exhausted breath before describing her long days assisting the Polish women who call her each day for help.

A member of the ironically titled Abortion Dream Team, a collective which helps Polish women secure terminations abroad, Ms Wydrzynska said the women who reached her were living in a waking nightmare.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/polish-women-s-groups-work-to-circumvent-new-abortion-regime-1.4558721

Civil unrest as Poland implements near-total abortion law; an attack on reproductive rights

Makaela Jones
March 1, 2021
The Organization for World Peace

On 27 January, the Polish government passed controversial legislation further tightening their already restrictive abortion laws. Relative to other European nations, Poland’s abortion laws were already prohibitive, tolerated only in cases of rape, incest, foetal abnormalities, and maternal health complications. The government’s ruling follows an earlier revision made by the Constitutional Tribunal in October 2020 that declared the termination of a congenitally defective fetus was unconstitutional. The abortion law was last amended in 1993. The proposed amendment resulted in an extreme public outcry and mass demonstrations, forcing the government to reassess the revised abortion law. Prior to the Courts ruling on Wednesday the government had indicated they were open to dialogue. However, the abrupt passing of the new legislation has caused extreme division amongst Polish residents. It demonstrates the extreme cultural, moral, and political divide that resides within Poland. The continual nationwide unrest is the largest the country has seen following the fall of communism in 1989.

Continued: https://theowp.org/civil-unrest-as-poland-implements-near-total-abortion-law-an-attack-on-reproductive-rights/

01.03.2021

Commentary

Featured

All-Polish Women’s Strike

foetal abnormalities

Marta Lempart

Poland Constitutional Tribunal

Medical Boards under MTP Bill will make Abortion Inaccessible

Parvathi Sajiv
FEBRUARY 4, 2021

The Rajya Sabha will soon debate The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The Bill highlights a few changes, including the setting up of a Medical Board to decide on the abortion of pregnancies beyond 24 weeks due to foetal abnormalities. The Medical Board isn’t feasible in India’s current situation and may push accessibility to abortions further away reports PARVATHI SAJIV.

THE Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (‘MTP Amendment Bill’) was introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in March 2020. The Bill is likely to be brought in the Rajya Sabha in the ongoing budget session, and it still has a few framework issues.

Continued: https://www.theleaflet.in/medical-boards-under-mtp-bill-will-make-abortion-inaccessible/#

04.02.2021

medical boards for abortion

Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill 2020

Poland’s recent challenge on the road towards emancipation of women

Abortion has always been a topic of dispute regarding both women’s rights and a broader notion of human rights.

Monday, 30 November 2020
Sukran Unal

Various political, medical, religious or ethical
views on the topic have eventually led to the deepening of the controversy and
blocked the way to figure out a common solution across the world. Today, there
are also ongoing debates in the EU concerning the ethics and legitimacy of
abortion.

The issue is attributed utmost importance not only by most of the EU Member
States, but also by the EU itself, as well as the candidate countries having to
comply with the acquis to realise their prospective EU membership aspirations.

Continued: https://www.brusselstimes.com/opinion/140805/an-eu-wide-debate-polands-recent-challenge-on-the-road-towards-emancipation-of-women/

30.11.2020

Commentary

Featured

foetal abnormalities

Law and Justice party

Poland Constitutional Tribunal

rule of law

severe foetal abnormalities

Poland’s government creates constitutional crisis it will find hard to resolve

Malgorzata Tomczak, Warsaw
November 30, 2020

In the past, the problems of the country’s constitutional court were seen as complex and detached from people’s daily lives. Until now that is, when they started to impact on the most private and sensitive areas of Polish women’s lives.

With its recent legal attempt to put further limits on abortion, the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) has created a constitutional crisis that will be hard to resolve. And its reckless actions are already impacting on Polish women’s lives.

Continued: https://balkaninsight.com/2020/11/30/polands-government-creates-constitutional-crisis-it-will-find-hard-to-resolve/