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On Thursday, the Constitutional Court of Poland declared unconstitutional a regulation that allows artificial abortion of sick fetuses, up to several months old, the MTI reported.
The body based its decision on the provisions of the Basic Law of Poland on the right of every human being to life and its legal protection, and on the constitutional requirement that human and civil rights derive from the natural and inalienable dignity of the human person. Two constitutional judges issued dissenting opinions on the verdict.
The constitutional judicial process was initiated last year by 119 parliamentarians, including some members of the ruling group Law and Justice of the Polish Peasant Party and the Kukiz’15 group, as well as the Confederation of Small Radical and Neoliberal Parties.
In Poland, the Fetal Protection Act, in force since 1993, allows abortion of fetuses under 12 weeks if the pregnancy is the result of rape. In the case of sick fetuses, and if the life of the mother is in danger, the law allows abortion at all stages of pregnancy.
In Poland, about a thousand abortions are performed each year, mainly on fetuses with Down syndrome, citing a provision that now allows artificial abortions of sick fetuses, despite the fact that many consider that its classification as a legal disease raises legal and moral doubts.
In the Polish lower house, the citizens’ initiative introduced in 2017, which also bans artificial abortion of sick fetuses and has been supported by more than 830,000 voters, has been awaiting further discussion. Following the decision of the Constitutional Court, the project has become obsolete, this provision is not valid. Exceptions to the prohibition of lifelong abortion conceived as a result of rape and pregnancy that endangers the mother’s life are also in force.
At the time of the trial, smaller groups protested in front of the seat of the Constitutional Court, representatives of organizations that save lives and organizations that oppose the abortion ban.
Top image: protesters in front of the Polish Constitutional Court building. Photo: Aleksander Kalka / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP
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