Poland to challenge European court abortion ruling

Tue Jun 19, 2007 9:52am EDT

WARSAW, June 19 (Reuters) - Poland will appeal against a European court order to pay compensation to a woman who nearly went blind after being denied an abortion under strict Polish laws, the government said on Tuesday.

The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights ordered Poland to pay the woman 39,000 euros ($52,000) in March, enraging the conservative government of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

"If we didn't appeal we would have to ease the anti-abortion laws in Poland and this wouldn't be good," Kaczynski told a news conference. Deputy Prime Minister Roman Giertych, an ultranationalist, welcomed the decision to appeal.

The ruling coalition has been pushing for a total ban on abortion in the predominantly Roman Catholic country, which already has one of the strictest abortion laws in the European Union.

Polish law allows a pregnancy to be terminated only when it threatens the life or health of the mother, when the baby is likely to be permanently handicapped or when it originates from rape.

The human rights court had ruled that Alicia Tysiac was denied her human rights by the anti-abortion laws. Tysiac's eyesight worsened after her baby girl was born and she is now registered disabled.

Tysiac became pregnant in 2000. Three doctors told her she could go blind if she gave birth to her third child, but none would give her a certificate authorising an abortion.






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