A woman who was 15 weeks pregnant when Poland’s top court ruled against abortion for fetal defects has won a case at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which found that legal uncertainty forced her to travel abroad for the procedure.
The ECHR ruling, issued last week in the case of A.R. v. Poland, determined that the Polish government violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to private and family life.
The woman, identified only by her initials, argued that she had to seek an abortion in the Netherlands after prenatal tests confirmed that her fetus had trisomy 18, a severe genetic condition. Confusion followed the Constitutional Tribunal’s October 2020 ruling that declared abortion for fetal defects unconstitutional, while the government delayed publishing the decision for several months.
Judges said the delay left A.R. in a state of “uncertainty” about her legal rights, causing additional stress, and ordered Poland to pay her 1,495 euros (approximately $1,741) in costs and 15,000 euros (around $17,500) in damages for emotional distress.
The court did not rule on whether the abortion should have been allowed, focusing instead on Poland’s procedural failings during the transition from one legal framework to another. It emphasised that the state failed to provide clear and workable rules in a matter with serious consequences for individual rights.
This marks the second ECHR judgment against Poland in similar cases. In December 2023, the court found in M.L. v. Poland that another woman had been forced to travel abroad due to severe fetal abnormalities, citing concerns over the legal legitimacy of the Constitutional Tribunal’s bench.
Poland’s abortion law is among the strictest in Europe. Since the 2020 tribunal decision, abortion is permitted only in cases of rape, incest, or threats to the mother’s life. A newly elected centrist government has proposed reforms to allow abortion on request up to 12 weeks, but progress has stalled amid parliamentary gridlock and opposition from the president.
The ECHR ruling becomes final unless either side requests a review by the Grand Chamber within three months.
Adapted from The Christian Post.
