European Citizens’ Initiative on abortion rights reaches milestone after hearing

Thursday 4 December 2025
By The Brussels Times Newsroom

The European Parliament hosted on Tuesday a hearing on the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “My Voice, My Choice” on safe and accessible abortion for all women in the EU.

At the heart of the initiative is a concrete proposal which respects that health is a national competency: A European financial mechanism that supports EU Member States in providing access to safe abortion care free of charge to women without access in their own country and does not interfere with national legislations.

Continued:; https://www.brusselstimes.com/1867634/pro-choice-european-citizens-initiative-holds-hearing-in-the-european-parliament

When Legal Uncertainty Violates Reproductive Rights

A.R. v. Poland and the Dynamics of Transnational Legal Mobilization

27 November 2025
Karolina Kocemba

In 2020, the Polish Constitutional Court prohibited abortion sought on the grounds of fetal defects. While the ruling was announced, it was not published for three months, creating a period during which neither pregnant people nor medical providers could be certain of the current legal situation, which could change at any time. Accordingly, on 13 November 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), in A.R. v. Poland, ruled that this instability failed to meet the legal certainty required under Article 8 of the ECHR. The situation arose from the delayed and, at that time, unpredictably timed publication, and was intensified by the ongoing constitutional crisis.

Crucially, the case reveals a deeper dimension of legal uncertainty, as both pro-choice and anti-choice actors were actively involved in the A.R. case, seeking to shape the law in opposite directions. The resulting uncertainty is thus not only a product of institutional dysfunction but increasingly a terrain of transnational contestation shaped by competing forms of legal mobilization. This dynamic, in turn, is reflected in the European-level initiative My Voice, My Choice, which explicitly aims to stabilise standards where national systems have become fragmented and uncertain.

Continued: https://verfassungsblog.de/legal-uncertainty-reproductive-rights/

European court rules Poland violated rights of woman who traveled abroad for abortion

Nov 13, 2025
Notes on Poland

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Poland violated the rights of a pregnant woman who had to travel abroad to obtain an abortion after her foetus was diagnosed with a birth defect. It is the second time that the court has issued a judgment against Poland relating to its near-total abortion ban.

The ECHR found that the woman’s right to private and family life was violated by the legal uncertainty created by the delay between the Polish Constitutional Tribunal (TK) ruling of October 2020, which banned abortion in cases of birth defects, and its implementation by the government over three months later.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2025/11/13/european-court-rules-poland-violated-rights-of-woman-who-traveled-abroad-for-abortion/

Polish election: Tusk party urged to show it is not ‘deceiving women’ on abortion

Five years after near-total ban on abortion, campaigners say Sunday’s elections will be critical to see if promised change happens

Ashifa Kassam, European community affairs correspondent
Thu 15 May 2025

Poland’s presidential elections are a “historic, groundbreaking” chance for Donald Tusk’s centrist party to show it was not trying to “deceive women” when it promised to change some of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws, campaigners have said.

Voters across Poland will head to the polls on Sunday in the first round of the elections to replace Andrzej Duda, the current president who is aligned with the former rightwing government and has veto power over legislation.

Polls have suggested the frontrunner is Rafał Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw, whose centrist Civic Coalition led by the prime minister, Donald Tusk, has promised to relax abortion laws. But in recent weeks his lead has narrowed and support has climbed for Karol Nawrocki of the populist, anti-abortion Law and Justice (PiS) party, suggesting the two could be pitted against each other in a runoff vote on 1 June.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/15/poland-elections-tusk-centrists-abortion-laws-campaign-europe

‘Sculpting within the law’: Where does Poland stand on abortion?

Ada Petriczko
May 12, 2025

WARSAW - Two years after Donald Tusk became Poland's prime minister and promised to reform strict abortion rules, many of the women who supported him are disillusioned and say a May 18 presidential vote is unlikely to bring the change they were promised.

This is despite the fact that a liberal candidate could replace conservative President Andrzej Duda, who has long opposed easing some of Europe's strictest abortion laws.

"I'm still shocked that they reached for our votes when they needed them, and then completely discarded us," said activist Anna Pięta, who helped create a viral campaign that urged women to vote in 2023.

Continued: https://www.context.news/money-power-people/polish-presidential-vote-unlikely-to-resolve-abortion-impasse

Poland’s chief of police fined for disclosing private data of woman who had abortion

Mar 25, 2025
Notes From Poland

Poland’s data protection agency has fined the Polish police chief’s office 75,000 zloty (€18,000) for publicly disclosing the personal and health data of a woman who had taken abortion pills and was admitted to hospital due to having suicidal thoughts.

The Personal Data Protection Office (UODO) argued that the former chief of police, Jarosław Szymczyk, violated the EU’s data protection regulation (GDPR) by sharing private information, including details regarding her psychiatric treatment.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2025/03/25/polands-chief-of-police-fined-for-disclosing-private-data-of-woman-who-had-abortion/

25.03.2025

Personal Data Protection Office

privacy of health information

In Warsaw, a feminist clinic lets women speak freely about abortion

Despite campaign promises, the liberal coalition in power has not loosened Poland's strict abortion laws. However, progress is emerging from civil society: An organization has opened a one-of-a-kind health center, where gynecologists and psychologists support women in their decisions, without judgment.

By Hélène Bienvenu, Le Monde
Jan 3, 2024

Tucked away on one of Warsaw's busiest streets, a discreet neon sign marks the entrance: Federa Health Center. Ringing the intercom grants access to this private clinic entirely dedicated to women's health. Inside, one might mistake it for a cozy café with its powder-colored walls and plush armchairs, if not for the abundance of informative brochures about HIV and emergency contraception. Condoms are prominently displayed on tables in the large first-floor room, reserved for sex education and self-defense workshops.

Continued: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/article/2025/01/03/in-warsaw-the-feminist-clinic-where-to-speak-freely-about-abortion_6736663_117.html

03.01.2025

Polish Foundation for Women and Family Planning

Warsaw feminist clinic

After one year of new government, anger in Poland over broken abortion promises

Dec 13, 2024
By Alicja Ptak and Christiaan Paauwe, Notes from Poland

Poland’s government came to power last year on a pledge to end the country’s near-total abortion ban. But one year after taking office, that promise remains unfulfilled, leaving many women disillusioned and doubtful of politicians’ commitment to changing the law.

Katarzyna had hoped that Poland’s 2023 parliamentary elections would usher in change. Opposition leader Donald Tusk had promised to end Poland’s near-total abortion ban and introduce abortion on demand within his first 100 days of office. He called women’s rights the “number one issue”.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/12/13/after-one-year-of-new-government-anger-in-poland-over-broken-abortion-promises/

A year after Tusk came to power, why is access to safe and legal abortion still a distant dream in Poland?

A year ago, Anna Błuś travelled home to her native Poland to vote in an election whose result she hoped would usher in a change to the country’s near total ban on abortion. What went wrong?

By Anna Błuś, Amnesty International
October 15, 2024

Exactly a year ago on the eve of Poland’s elections, I joined a huge queue snaking around a polling station in Warsaw on a cold autumn day. Despite the chill and the hours spent waiting to vote, the atmosphere was festive. There was a mood of anticipation in the air: a palpable sense that change was coming after eight years of regressive rule by the Law and Justice (PiS) party.

As I watched the exit polls in a packed bar later that night, it became clear that this had been an election like no other with a record turnout (74%) and unprecedented numbers of women and young people coming out to vote.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/10/a-year-after-tusk-came-to-power-why-is-access-to-safe-and-legal-abortion-still-a-distant-dream-in-poland/

New UN Report: Polish Abortion Law Violates Human Rights

A comprehensive investigation reveals the devastating consequences of Poland's restrictive abortion law on women's health and bodily autonomy, requiring urgent legal reform.

Center for Reproductive Rights
Sept 13, 2024

In a groundbreaking report, the United Nations (UN) has denounced Poland’s restrictive abortion law for causing severe human rights violations. The three-year investigation, conducted by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), reveals the devastating toll the law is taking on women’s health and rights in Poland and calls for swift and sweeping legal reform to legalize and fully decriminalize abortion.

The CEDAW inquiry into Poland’s abortion law was initiated after submissions by the Center for Reproductive Rights, in collaboration with Polish civil society organizations including the Foundation for Women and Family Planning (FEDERA) and the Karat Coalition. This effort sought to draw urgent international attention to Poland’s severe abortion restrictions and their harmful impact on women’s health, rights, and bodily autonomy over decades.

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/un-cedaw-report-poland-abortion/

13.09.2024