European rights court throws out Polish abortion law challenge

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) declared Thursday that a case seeking to challenge Poland’s near-total abortion ban was not admissible because of the weakness of the evidence.

A group of eight Polish women brought the case in front of the ECHR following a Polish constitutional court decision in 2021 that made abortion in the country illegal in almost all circumstances.

The women argued that the decision violated their human rights because it would force them to carry any future pregnancy to term, even in cases where the fetus developed abnormalities.

The ECHR justices ruled that the applicants did not provide enough justification to hear the case, particularly given that it concerns a hypothetical, future violation of human rights.

“The Court found that the applicants had failed to provide any convincing medical evidence proving that they had been at real risk of being directly affected by the 2020 legislative amendments. Nor had they produced any documents relating to their personal circumstances, making it impossible to assess their individual situations,” reads a press release published by the court.