European Parliament adopts resolution on Poland's anti-abortion law

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday criticising the ban on the right to abortion in Poland, which the president of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal dismissed as an attempt to interfere in internal matters.

In the resolution, the EP "strongly condemned" the ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal on abortion in Poland, believing that "this ruling endangers the health and life of women".

Commenting on the matter, MEPs said that restricting or prohibiting the right to abortion "pushes it underground, leading to an increase in the number of illegal, dangerous, secret and life-threatening abortions."

The EP also called for the performance of abortions not to be covered by the criminal code as this deters doctors who may refrain from doing it for fear of criminal sanctions.

Julia Przelebska, president of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal, which passed the abortion ruling, said the EP resolution was "an unprecedented attempt to interfere with internal systemic issues of the Republic of Poland not covered by European treaties.

She went on to say that MEPs had trespassed on the independence of the Constitutional Tribunal, which she said was a breach of the tri-partite separation of powers and therefore the fundamentals of democracy, describing their move as unjustified.

The resolution was prepared by five political groups: the European People's Party, Socialists and Democrats, Renew Europe, the Greens and GUE.

On October 22, Poland's Constitutional Tribunal ruled that abortion is unconstitutional in the case of a severely damaged foetus. The ruling leaves two situations in which a pregnancy can be terminated: when the pregnancy is the result of a crime or when it poses a danger to the mother's health or life.