Slovakia: Proposed constitutional amendments would crush the rights of LGBTIQ+ people and be a backward step for gender equality

8 April 2025
Amnesty International

Amendments to the Constitution of Slovakia to recognize only two sexes (male and female) and limit adoption to only married heterosexual couples, would have a devastating impact on the rights of LGBTIQ+ people, said Amnesty International ahead of an expected debate and vote in the Slovak parliament.

The battery of proposed amendments would also restrict access to reproductive health by allowing refusal of abortion care by health professionals on the grounds of “conscience”, denying pregnant people safe and timely abortions and mandate parental approval on comprehensive sexuality education in schools. This would restrict children’s access to information necessary for sexual violence prevention, education about consent, and sexual and reproductive health, for example.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2025/04/slovakia-proposed-constitutional-amendments-would-crush-the-rights-of-lgbtiq-people-and-be-a-backward-step-for-gender-equality/

France’s Veil abortion law leaves positive but fragile legacy, 50 years on

France on Friday marks 50 years since the law decriminalising abortion came into effect. Since then, the law has undergone numerous updates to reflect changes in society and was even enshrined in the Constitution in March 2024. But despite these advances, advocates warn that access to abortion remains fragile in practice.

Issued on: 17/01/2025
By: Ollia Horton with RFI

The law to decriminalise abortion was proposed by then-health minister Simone Veil in November 1974. She was one of only nine female MPs at the time and faced enormous pressure – and abuse – during the 25-hour parliamentary debate.

"I never imagined the hatred that I would unleash," Veil later said, recalling how some lawmakers likened abortion to the Holocaust – of which Veil was a survivor, having been deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps.

Continued: https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20250117-veil-abortion-law-leaves-positive-but-fragile-legacy-50-years-on

17.01.2025

News

conscience clause

enshrining abortion rights in constitution

France's abortion law

La Fondation des Femmes

Abortion has been legal in France for 50 years. Yet a clause allowing doctors to decline to perform the procedure raises questions

With every legislative change related to abortion, the clause stipulating that no healthcare provider 'is obliged to perform a voluntary termination of pregnancy' is questioned.

By Mattea Battaglia
January 17, 2025

It is one of those ethical topics little known to the general public but which still quietly divides healthcare professionals. "A doctor is never obliged to perform a voluntary termination of pregnancy," reads Article L2212-8 of the Public Health Code. This clause also applies to midwives, nurses, and auxiliary medical staff. Each time the law concerning abortion evolves, since it was passed 50 years ago, on January 17, 1975, this specific conscience clause resurfaces in debates before ultimately being reaffirmed in the law.

A general clause also existed, allowing practitioners to refuse to perform any act for professional or personal reasons. Found in Article 47 of the Medical Code of Ethics, the regulatory clause gave all practitioners the right to refuse care, "except in emergencies or when it would fail their duty of humanity." The coexistence of these two texts led healthcare workers to refer to a "double conscience clause" for abortion. This special treatment continues to raise questions.

Continued: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2025/01/17/abortion-has-been-legal-in-france-for-50-years-yet-a-clause-allowing-doctors-to-decline-to-perform-the-procedure-raises-questions_6737153_7.html

17.01.2025

Commentary

Article L2212-8

belief-based care denial

conscience clause

conscientious objection

Joëlle Belaïsch-Allart

Medical Code of Ethics

National College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians of France

France marks 50 years since journey to decriminalise abortion began

Fifty years ago the French parliament passed a groundbreaking bill that would eventually decriminalise abortion, championed by health minister Simone Veil, amidst intense opposition.

29/11/2024
By: Sarah Elzas with RFI

After three days of fierce debate, the first draft of the bill was passed on 29 November, 1974. And while the right to abortion has since been enshrined in the French constitution, a world first, the bill’s adoption by the National Assembly half a century ago was far from a given.

Newly elected president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing had promised to decriminalise abortion, but his justice minister, Jean Lecanuet, who was tasked with drafting the legislation, refused to do it for personal, ethical reasons.

Continued: https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20241129-fifty-years-ago-france-started-on-path-to-decriminalising-abortion

29.11.2024

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing

New UN Guidance Calling for Restraints on Conscientious Objection to Abortion Care

by Cynthia Soohoo and Jaime M. Gher
November 26, 2024

The United Nations Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls (WGDAWG) this summer issued important new guidance on how governments can comply with their obligations to ensure that individual refusals to provide health care services based on religion or conscience do not create a barrier to reproductive health services, including abortion services. The guidance responds to reports of widespread abuse of “conscience claims” that have undermined abortion access in many regions. As States now turn to the process of implementing the guidance, we offer an explainer on what it requires and why implementation is necessary for States to comply with their international legal obligations.

Given the grave impact that delays or denial of care have on the health and lives of pregnant people, the WGDAWG’s guidance emphasizes that States should only allow conscience claims to refuse abortion services if they can ensure that pregnant people can promptly access these services from another provider.

Continued: https://www.justsecurity.org/105169/un-conscientious-objection-abortion-care/

26.11.2024

News

belief-based care denial

CEDAW Committee

conscience clause

conscientious objection

Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women

Human Rights Committee

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

United Nations Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls

Polish government publishes guidelines to help women obtain legal abortions

Aug 31, 2024
Notes from Poland

Poland’s government has published guidelines for when and how abortions can be carried out, with the aim of ensuring that doctors and prosecutors “take the women’s side” when making decisions on the issue.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk – who last week admitted that it is unlikely he can achieve his aim of liberalising the country’s strict abortion law – declared today that “if we won’t change the law, we will change the reality”.

“We are looking for ways of acting that, in accordance with the law, will enable in practice access to legal abortion for women who, for various reasons, should have the right to this abortion,” he added.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/08/31/polish-government-publishes-guidelines-to-help-women-obtain-legal-abortions/

31.08.2024

First hospital fined for refusing to provide abortion under new Polish government rules

JUN 18, 2024
Notes from Poland

A hospital has been fined for refusing to provide a legal abortion in the first such case since the government recently introduced a requirement for publicly funded medical centres to offer such procedures.

Health minister Izabela Leszczyna announced on Monday that the Pabianice Medical Center was fined 550,000 zloty (€126,300). She revealed that audit proceedings regarding two other medical facilities are also in the “final stages” and that they are also likely to be penalised.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/06/18/first-hospital-fined-for-refusing-to-provide-abortion-under-new-polish-government-rules/

18.06.2024

News

Adam Marczak

conscience clause

Institute of the Polish Mother’s Health Centre

Izabela Leszczyna

National Health Fund

Pabianice Medical Center

Why changing the constitution doesn’t guarantee access to abortion in France

As commentators hail France's decision to protect abortion rights within its constitution as a legal milestone, healthcare workers warn that having the right to an abortion and having access to one remain two different things.

March 9, 2024
Jessica Phelan with RFI

"Enshrining this right in the constitution makes it practically untouchable," declared long-time women's rights activist and former leftwing MP Danielle Bousquet, speaking to RFI on the day that both houses of the French parliament approved the move.

Article 34 of the charter now states: "The law determines the conditions by which the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed, is exercised."

Continued: https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20240309-why-changing-the-constitution-doesn-t-guarantee-access-to-abortion-in-france

Poland shows the difficulties of trying to reverse an abortion ban

By Kate Brady and Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post
January 27, 2024

PRENZLAU, Germany — Only 30 miles separate the two clinics where gynecologist Maria Kubisa works, but what’s legal at her clinic on this side of the border would be criminal at the clinic back in Poland.

So women have been crossing over to seek help from Kubisa on this side, especially in the past three years, since a Polish court backed by a ring-wing government imposed a near-ban on abortion.

Unlocked: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/27/poland-abortion-12-weeks-donald-tusk/

Polish Left announces bills to liberalise abortion law on first day of new parliament

Notes from Poland
NOV 14, 2023

The Left (Lewica), which is part of the coalition likely to form Poland’s new government, announced two bills to liberalise the country’s strict abortion laws on the first day of parliament yesterday.

One would end the current near-total ban on abortion and instead introduce abortion on demand. The other would end the criminalisation of those who help women obtain abortions. However, it appears unlikely that the bills will enjoy support from more conservative elements of the new coalition.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2023/11/14/polish-left-announces-bills-to-liberalise-abortion-law-on-first-day-of-new-parliament/