Volkswacht Bodensee - Europe court orders Poland pay damages to woman who aborted abroad

In Poland, ending a pregnancy is only permitted in cases of rape, incest or if the mother's life is in danger.

The woman, born in 1981, filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights over having to travel to a private clinic in the Netherlands in November 2020 to abort a foetus that had Down's Syndrome.

A 1993 Polish law used to allow abortion if a prenatal test showed a foetal defect.

But the Polish Constitutional Court in October 2020 found that law to be unconstitutional.

The ruling, which prompted widespread protests, was only published in late January 2021.

The Strasbourg-based court ruled that the "situation of prolonged uncertainty" caused by that delay constituted interference in the woman's private and family life under the European Human Rights Convention.

The court ordered Poland pay the woman 1,495 euros (more than $1,700) for pecuniary damage and 15,000 euros (more than $17,400) in other damages.

Natalia Broniarczyk, of non-governmental organisation "Aborcyjny Dream Team", told AFP that it was a "fair decision".

"Every day, seven women travel abroad for an abortion," she added.

According to official numbers, just under 900 abortions were performed in hospitals last year in the country of 38 million people.

Poland is one of 46 member states of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe rights organisation, which is not connected to the European Union.

Council of Europe members sign up to the European Convention on Human Rights, which is enforced by the European Court of Human Rights.

The ECHR in 2023 issued a similar ruling in the case of a woman who had been scheduled to have an abortion in a Polish hospital on January 28, 2021 after her foetus was found to have Down's Syndrome.

After the legal amendment came into force on January 27, she was forced to travel to a private clinic abroad to have the procedure.

Poland has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, and "assisting abortion" can be punished by jail.

Four efforts to liberalise the law were put forth in parliament in 2023, after a pro-European coalition government took power.

These ranged from reversing the 2020 decision and allowing abortions in the case of "severe foetal abnormalities", to allowing abortion up to 12 weeks without providing a reason, or up to 24 in the case of defects.

None of them passed through parliament, and conservative-nationalist President Karol Nawrocki said he would veto any measure liberalising abortion laws.

The latter was proposed by the Left party, a member of the ruling coalition, which also put forward a motion to decriminalise abortion.

Following the European court's decision, Left spokesperson Lukasz Michnik expressed the party's hope that "it will convince otherwise skeptical partners and factions to finally decriminalise" abortion.

"It's simply right, it's in accordance with European law," he told AFP.

M.Vogt--VB