‘Polish de facto ban on abortion puts women’s lives at risk’: EP

 In a resolution adopted with 455 votes to 145 and 71 abstentions, European Parliament says that the ruling of 22 October by Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal to make abortion illegal in cases involving severe and irreversible fetal defects “puts women’s health and lives at risk”, as most legal abortions in the country are performed on those grounds. Banning that option, which accounted for 96% of legal pregnancy terminations in Poland in 2019 (1,074 out of 1,110), would lead to an increase in “unsafe, clandestine and life-threatening abortions”, MEPs warn.

The text notes that the decision was made by “judges who are elected by and are fully dependent on politicians from the ruling coalition led by the Law and Justice Party (PiS)”.

Parliament underscores that, in line with the European Court of Human Rights’ case law, restrictive abortion laws violate women’s human rights. MEPs agree that unhindered and timely access to reproductive health services and respect for women’s reproductive autonomy and decision-making is critical to protecting women’s human rights and gender equality.

Women’s rights are fundamental rights, states the Chamber, recalling that the EU institutions and the member states are legally obliged to uphold and protect them. MEPs point out that Polish medical professionals are increasingly invoking the conscience clause, even when asked to prescribe contraceptives or to prevent access to prenatal screening. Thousands of Polish women are forced to travel abroad every year to access a health service as essential as abortion, further endangering their health and putting their wellbeing at risk, they add.

According to Parliament, this ruling is “yet another example of the political takeover of the judiciary and the systemic collapse of the rule of law” in Poland.

(WBJ)