EU court rules Poland violated human rights in abortion case
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Thursday that Poland violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to privacy, in a case concerning access to abortion.
The judgment follows a complaint filed by a woman from Krakow, southern Poland, after the country's Constitutional Tribunal issued a landmark decision in October 2020 that drastically curtailed abortion rights. The ruling marked a stringent limitation on abortion, leaving abortion legal only when the mother's life was at risk or when the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.
According to the applicant, she was 15 weeks pregnant at the time of the Tribunal's decision. Medical tests had revealed serious foetal abnormalities, leading her to seek an abortion, a procedure she ultimately obtained at a private clinic in the Netherlands.
In her complaint, she alleged violations of Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment) and Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court upheld her claim under Article 8, finding that Poland's restrictions and legal uncertainty surrounding abortion interfered with her rights.
The ECHR ordered Poland to pay the equivalent of EUR 1,495 for pecuniary losses and EUR 15,000 for non-pecuniary damages, to be paid within three months of the judgment becoming final and binding.
Kamila Ferenc, from the FEDERA women's rights foundation, told PAP that the ruling was similar to a judgment issued by the ECHR in a case in 2023. "I don't expect any changes," she said, noting that this means they have neither led to the "depublication" of the Constitutional Tribunal's ruling from 2020 nor swiftly adopted legislation to nullify the effects of the 2020 ruling.
Poland's abortion laws, among the most restrictive in Europe, have drawn widespread criticism from international organisations, including the European Union and the United Nations' Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which have warned that such policies endanger women's lives and health. (PAP)
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