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.
• A Berlin pharmacist who refused to sell the “morning-after” pill because of his religious beliefs has been found not guilty.
• Andreas Kersten refused to stock and market the pill on the grounds of freedom of conscience.
• Since 2018, the Berlin Chamber of Pharmacy has been conducting proceedings against the pharmacist and the then-owner of Undine Pharmacy.
• In 2020, the Berlin Administrative Court acquitted the pharmacist, claiming that he had the right to follow his conscience.
On July 12, the Parliament of the Republic of Poland rejected by a majority vote a bill decriminalizing the killing of unborn children through abortion.
· The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the inclusion of the so-called right to abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
© 2016 ORDO IURIS - Instytut Na Rzecz Kultury Prawnej
