On Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights issued a judgment regarding abortion in Poland. According to the ECtHR’s ruling, the 38-year-old from Warsaw will receive EUR 16,000 in compensation. The decision is a breakthrough because so far the European Court has not accepted any of the allegations of Polish women who sued Poland for violating the human rights convention resulting from the application of the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of 2020.
A woman who was a patient of the Bielański Hospital in Warsaw was refused an abortion for which she was eligible in 2021. On the day of the planned procedure, the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of Julia Przyłębska was published, which banned abortion in Poland due to severe fetal defects.
Abortion in Poland. A landmark judgment of the Human Rights Tribunal was passed
Ms. ML accused Poland of violating Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. In Thursday’s judgment, the ECtHR found that there had been no violation of the above-mentioned article. But the tribunal agreed that there had been a violation of Art. Article 8 of the Convention guarantees that “everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life.”
The situation forced the woman to make a decision: give birth to a sick child or undergo the procedure abroad. The trip to the Netherlands was associated with significant financial and psychological costs for her. On Thursday, after the publication of the ECtHR’s judgment, a conference of the Foundation for Women and Family Planning was held, during which the Polish woman’s letter was read. Thanks to your kind permission, we can publish its entire content:
LETTER BY MRS ML AND HER HUSBAND AFTER THE JUDGMENT IN HER CASE BY THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
The end of 2020 and especially the beginning of 2021 proved to be extremely difficult for us, and probably for many other families in a similar situation. October 2020, unaware that I was pregnant, I participated in marches in defense of the “right to choose”, like many others. A few weeks later, everything changed, but I could not yet imagine that I could be one of the first victims of the new interpretation of the constitution, that Poland decided on.
The news about a sick fetus puts a person in a terrible dilemma of what choice to make, but there is nothing worse than the knowledge of being deprived of it. You know your life will change forever, and yet you have just lost the right to control it. In our case, the publication of the change in law just the night before the planned admission to hospital worsened the feeling of helplessness and powerlessness.
Being a victim of the decisions of the Polish State, mental scars and fears remained: ‘Can I trust this doctor/gynecologist/midwife/nurse? Will he/she provide me with sound medical advice and help, or is his/her role now to police morality? Will it be safe for me to visit this hospital? Will they keep me safe as a pregnant woman in their care, or will they play with my life, afraid to interpret the law? Would we even want to try for a baby again in this country and under such conditions?
Thanks to organizations such as FEDERA, we received enormous logistical and psychological support as well as access to people who were there to listen to us, not judge us. Such organizations are key to informing women and families in a similar situation to ours about their rights, options, and offering support when it is not provided by the Polish State, or even often by immediate family. We are happy with the verdict because we hope that no one will be in a similar situation to ours again and everyone will have the opportunity to decide about their life and health and will receive appropriate support from the Polish State.
Source: Federa.org
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
