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/

Delhi High Court Calls for Law to Balance Maternal Autonomy and Rights of Viable Foetus in Abortion Cases

By Hardik Khandelwal
14 September 2025

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has recently raised an important legal question while allowing the termination of the pregnancy of a 15-year-old minor girl. The Court has suggested that lawmakers should think about making a clear law on protecting the rights of a viable foetus that may be born alive during an abortion, while also ensuring that a woman’s autonomy and right to health are protected.

The case came before the Court as a Writ Petition filed by the minor through her mother, seeking permission to terminate a pregnancy of 27 weeks.

Continued: https://lawchakra.in/high-court/law-maternal-autonomy-rights-abortion-case/

14.09.2025

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

Italy’s abortion taboos challenged by new law in Sicily

By Angelo Amante
July 13, 2025

CATANIA, Italy, July 14 (Reuters) - Monia, a Sicilian woman in her early forties, was overjoyed when she discovered in October 2022 she was expecting her first child. Her doctor, however, recommended a genetic test due to her age, and the result was one no parent wants to receive.

The foetus had a genetic syndrome. Monia, who declined to give her surname, asked her gynaecologist what she could do.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/italys-abortion-taboos-challenged-by-new-law-sicily-2025-07-14/

South Australia’s upper house narrowly rejects ‘Trumpian’ bill to wind back abortion care

Legislation to force women seeking a later termination to be induced, deliver the baby alive, and keep it or adopt it out, defeated by 10 votes to nine

Tory Shepherd
Wed 16 Oct 2024

A child that faces a bedridden life. A girl with intellectual disabilities raped by a family member. Victims of domestic violence or reproductive coercion. There are a variety of distressing reasons women have later stage terminations.

There is no easy definition of when an abortion is considered “late” or “late-term”. It is generally considered anything after 20 weeks’ gestation, but the states and territories have a patchwork of legislation with various milestones.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/16/south-australias-upper-house-narrowly-rejects-trumpian-bill-to-wind-back-abortion-care

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