[ad_1]
Poland already had one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe. Now it is tightened again. The country’s constitutional court has now also declared malformation abortion illegal.
Poland’s Supreme Court has paved the way for further toughening of the restrictive abortion law. Presiding Constitutional Judge Julia Przylebska declared unconstitutional a law that allows abortion in the event of a serious malformation of the fetus. In doing so, he granted a request from right-wing Conservative MPs. They saw the regulation of abortion as a violation of the constitutionally anchored protection of life. The court agreed. According to the sentence, life must be protected “in all phases of development.”
The ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) has been campaigning to toughen abortion law in Poland for years. He wants abortions to be possible only if the mother’s life is in immediate danger or if she has become pregnant as a result of rape or incest. Predominantly Catholic Poland already has one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe.
Triumph of the “Pro Life” movement
The leader of the movement called “Pro Life” in Poland was satisfied after the court decision. The right to life has been recognized, he said after the verdict was announced. Today, Poland is a role model for Europe and the world. We are not under the pressure of our time to march to the left and expand the possibilities of killing people. The protection of life is possible and pro-life brings results. “.
It is the first politically controversial ruling of its kind from the Polish “constitutional court”. In the immediate aftermath of the PiS party’s first electoral victory in 2015, Poland’s Supreme Court was rebuilt in a controversial process and has been biased ever since. Since then, he has hardly received calls, and if so, mostly from representatives of the ruling field itself. Judge Przylebska is a close confidante of PiS party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Criticism of the court ruling
Human rights activists and the Polish opposition criticized the Constitutional Court ruling. Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz of the Civic Platform said that a state that treats its citizens inhumanely by regulation is no longer a state. “Ordering the birth of terminally ill children and dressing this in paragraphs is morally the lowest point, a legal quagmire.” The PiS government is responsible for this, Gasiuk-Pihowicz said.
Former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was also critical. “Bringing abortion and a pseudo-court decision to the agenda amid the rampant pandemic is more than cynical.” Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic said the decision amounted to banning abortion and therefore constituted a violation of human rights. For many women, the verdict meant “even greater suffering.”
There are less than 2000 legal abortions per year in Poland. According to Mijatovic, most of these are caused by malformations of the fetus. However, women’s rights organizations estimate that up to 200,000 Polish women have illegal abortions or travel abroad each year.
With information from Jan Pallokat, ARD Studio Warsaw.
