UN Committee Finds that Polish Abortion Law is Causing Grave and Systematic Human Rights Violations

GENEVA, 26.08.2024 – Today saw the release of landmark findings by a UN Committee on the grave forms of harm that Poland’s highly restrictive abortion law has been causing women for decades.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women held that the country’s highly restrictive abortion law is inflicting serious harm on women, giving rise to grave and systematic violations of their human rights. The findings were adopted by the Committee following a three year inquiry into the effects of the law, which involved the Committee considering detailed evidentiary submissions and conducting an official visit to Poland.

The findings underline that the law inflicts severe physical and mental suffering on women, which can amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. They outline that because Polish law does not allow abortion on request, women are forced to continue unwanted pregnancies, seek clandestine abortion outside of legal pathways or travel abroad to access care, all of which cause them significant suffering and harm their health and well-being.

In order to rectify the situation, the Committee recommends that Poland legalize and fully decriminalize abortion recognizing abortion as a fundamental right and placing women’s autonomy at the center of its policy. As an interim measure pending the adoption of comprehensive legal reform, the Committee recommends that Poland introduce a moratorium on the application of its criminal laws on abortion and halt all investigations and prosecutions of anyone providing assistance to women who need an abortion.

“These findings confirm the grave forms of pain and suffering that women in Poland have endured for decades because of a legal system of state control that severely limits their access to reproductive health care. The Committee’s findings are clear: legalizing abortion care is the only way in which the Polish state can safeguard women’s health and protect their personal integrity. A moratorium on the enforcement of criminal law provisions regarding abortion must urgently be imposed, and law reform processes must ensure the swift legalization of abortion and its full decriminalization,” said Katrine Thomasen, Associate Director for Europe at the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Today the Polish Government’s response to the Committee’s findings was also published. While the Government acknowledged the ongoing work on the necessary legislative reform, it emphasized that its primary focus has been on ensuring effective implementation of the relevant legislation.

“As the Government response states, to date the Government has focused on health system and policy changes. However, the Committee’s findings outline that legislative change is fundamentally imperative. Until the law on abortion is changed, Poland will remain in breach of its human rights obligations and grave and systematic violations of women’s rights will continue. The Government and Parliament must act urgently. Fully decriminalizing and legalizing abortion on request is the only way for the Government to uphold its commitment to safeguarding women’s rights and promoting equality,” said Kamila Ferenc, Vice-President and Lawyer at the Foundation for Women and Family Planning (FEDERA).

Importantly the Committee’s inquiry addressed the impact over decades of the highly restrictive law that was put in place in Poland in 1993. As a result, the Committee looked beyond the near-term harm caused to women as a result of the 2020 Constitutional Tribunal decision which led to the removal of a ground for legal abortion in situations of serious fetal impairment. The Committee’s findings address the grave and systematic harm that has been caused over many years and continues today. 

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

Center for Reproductive Rights: [email protected]

FEDERA: [email protected]

Notes to Editors:

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is an independent body of legal, human rights and gender equality experts mandated to monitor compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women by States Parties. CEDAW may initiate a confidential inquiry under Article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention if it receives reliable information indicating grave or systematic violations of the Convention by a State Party. The inquiry into Poland’s abortion law was initiated following submissions by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Polish civil society organizations the Foundation for Women and Family Planning (FEDERA) and the Karat Coalition.

The Committee began its inquiry into Poland’s abortion law in 2021. This included an official visit to Poland at the end of 2022, during which it met with government officials, members of parliament, civil society representatives, health care professionals and women directly affected by Poland’s abortion law.

The inquiry findings are groundbreaking in their recognition of the extensive harm caused by Poland’s abortion law. It is the first comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the numerous human rights violations caused by the highly restrictive law and criminalization of abortion in Poland.

The findings outline that Poland’s abortion law inflicts significant harm on women, resulting in grave and systematic violations of their human rights, including the rights to freedom from torture and other ill treatment, to health and to privacy.

CEDAW has previously conducted an inquiry into the harmful effects of Northern Ireland’s former highly restrictive abortion law. That inquiry led to the legalization of abortion and decriminalization in Northern Ireland in 2020.

Poland has one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws. It is one of only two European Union Member States that has not legalized abortion on request. The law permits abortion only in cases of risk to the life or health of a pregnant woman, or if a pregnancy results from rape. Even in these cases, obtaining a legal abortion is almost impossible in practice. Each year, thousands of women are forced to seek extra-legal abortion in Poland by obtaining abortion medication through the post. Many others travel to foreign countries to access legal care. In recent years, several women have died in Polish hospitals because they were denied life-saving abortion care during pregnancy complications. Research indicates that the abortion law has also severely harmed refugees from Ukraine seeking protection in Poland.

Read about the Center for Reproductive Rights and FEDERA: https://reproductiverights.org; https://federa.org.pl