Published: 14.07.2022
In a judgment of October 22, 2020, the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the statutory provision allowing eugenic abortion is inconsistent with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. The challenged provision concerned the permissibility of terminating a pregnancy, and thus killing a conceived child, in a situation where prenatal tests or other medical reasons indicate a high probability of a severe and irreversible impairment or an incurable disease that threatens the child's life.
The ruling of the Tribunal entered into force on the day of its publication in the Journal of Laws on January 27, 2021, becoming universally binding. Thus, abortion is banned in Poland for eugenic reasons. The judgment is final. Polish law does not know the procedure that would allow for its contestation.
On February 13, the Court of Appeals in Warsaw overturned an earlier verdict convicting Justyna Wydrzyńska, a well-known abortion activist from the so-called Abortion Dream Team, of assisting in a medical abortion.
In March 2023, the Warsaw-Praga Regional Court had sentenced this activist to community service for giving abortion pills to a woman who was pregnant with twins. It was a high-profile case that was reported in the international media.
• The trial of Justyna Wydrzyńska, an activist from the Abortion Dream Team group who was convicted of aiding and abetting a medical abortion, took place in the Court of Appeals in Warsaw.
• The European Parliament will debate the draft recommendations of the EU Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM).
On November 8, the Polish Sejm voted on a bill decriminalizing both the performance and the aiding and abetting of illegal abortions. The Left’s radically pro-abortion bill was thus sent for further parliamentary work.
© 2016 ORDO IURIS - Instytut Na Rzecz Kultury Prawnej
